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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 

MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


0 


JImerican  ffttfiqttarian  ^txtititi 


NOTES  ON  THE  CALENDAR 
AND  THE  ALMANAC 


BY 
GEORGE  EMERY  LITTLEFIELD 


Reprinted  from  the  Procebdings  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society 
FOR  April,  1914. 


WORCESTER,  MASSACHUSETTS,  U.S.A. 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  SOCIETY 

1914 


THE  DAVIS  PRESS 

WoHCESTEK,  Massachusetts 


NOTES  ON  THE  CALENDAR  AND  THE 
ALMANAC. 

BY   GEORGE   EMERY   LITTLEFIELD. 


In  answering  the  question,  why  do  the  officers  of  pub- 
he  hbraries  and  bibUophiles  so  highly  esteem  and  strive 
to  make  collections  of  old  calendars  and  almanacs,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  calendar  was  coeval  with  and  had 
a  great  influence  upon  civilization.  Indeed,  the  slow 
but  gradual  formation  of  what  we  know  as  a  calendar  is 
an  excellent  illustration  of  the  progress  of  civilization. 
At  first  it  was  a  very  crude  scheme  for  recording  the 
passing  of  time,  deduced  from  irregular  observations 
of  the  rising  and  setting  of  a  few  fixed  stars,  by  a  people 
who  had  but  recently  emerged  from  barbarism.  The 
resultant  table  was  of  very  little  value  and  required 
constant  revision  and  correction.  It  was  only  by  long 
and  patient  study  and  observation,  by  gaining  knowledge 
from  repeated  failures,  that  finally  was  produced  the 
accurate  and  scientific  register,  which  today  bears  the 
name  of  calendar. 

Furthermore,  the  material  and  shape  of  the  tablet 
upon  which  the  calendar  was  engraved  or  printed,  was 
a  constant  temptation  to  artists  to  decorate  it  with  pen- 
cil or  brush,  which  caused  it  to  become  a  valuable  me- 
dium for  inculcating  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  ideas 
of  the  sublime  and  beautiful,  and  never  more  so  than 
at  the  present  time. 

As  regards  the  almanac,  it  also  is  of  ancient  memory, 
as  we  have  positive  evidence  of  its  existence  more  than 
twelve  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era.  To  its 
compilation  scienjtists,  philosophers,  theologians,  poets 


MS'rnSm 


4 

and  artists,  have  eagerly  contributed  and  it  has  dissem- 
inated valuable  information  among  millions  of  people, 
who  without  it  would  have  remained  in  ignorance.  Even 
at  the  present  day  a  bunch  of  almanacs  may  be  found  in 
many  a  farmer's  kitchen,  suspended  from  a  peg  or  nail 
in  the  wall  near  the  fireplace.  At  the  beginning  of  a 
year  the  new  almanac  is  sure  to  be  secured  and  is  re- 
ligiously preserved  by  being  sewn  to  its  predecessors, 
and  not  infrequently  this  bunch  of  almanacs  constitutes 
the  family  library. 

It  is  to  emphasize  these  and  other  reasons  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  calendars  and  almanacs,  and  to  give  a  com- 
pendious history  of  them  that  these  notes  have  been 
prepared. 

Of  calendars,  or  orderly  lists  of  persons,  things,  and 
events,  there  are  many  kinds:  for  instance,  a  calendar 
of  state  papers;  a  calendar  of  bills  presented  in  a  legis- 
lative assembly;  a  calendar  of  causes  arranged  for  trial 
in  court.  The  Calendar  which  we  are  to  consider  is 
defined  by  Webster  as  "an  orderly  arrangement  of  the 
divisions  of  time,  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  civil  life, 
as  years,  months,  weeks,  and  days ;  a  register  of  the  year 
with  its  divisions."  It  refers  to  time  in  general  and  to 
the  tables  which  have  been  invented  to  register  its  prog- 
ress. It  may  refer  to  a  single  year,  or  it  may  refer  to 
the  general  scheme  adopted  by  astronomers  by  which 
tune  may  be  measured  without  reference  to  any  par- 
ticular year.  It  is  a  general  table  of  the  days  and  months 
of  a  period  of  time  called  a  year  from  which  may  be  de- 
duced the  days  and  months  of  any  particular  year.  It 
is  a  scheme  for  the  division  of  time,  and  changes  in  this 
scheme  can  be  made  only  by  those  appointed  by  the 
government  for  tliat  purpose.  Thus  we  have  the  Egyp- 
tian, Chinese,  Jewish,  Roman,  Gregorian  and  Aztec 
calendars,  the  names  of  which  sufficiently  indicate  their 
character  and  denote  that  they  are  national  modes  of 
registering  the  course  of  time  by  the  season's  progress. 

On  the  contrary  the  almanac  practically  is  limited  to 
one  year  or  that  portion  of  time  which  is  comprehended 


in  the  annual  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the  sun, 
and  relates  to  the  affairs  of  men.  It  is  defined  by  Web- 
ster as  '*a  book  or  table  containing  a  calendar  of  days, 
weeks,  and  months,  to  which  astronomical  data  and 
various  statistics  are  often  added,  such  as  the  times  of 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  and  moon,  changes  of 
the  moon,  eclipses,  hours  of  full  tide,  stated  festivals 
of  Churches,  terms  of  court,  etc."  Anyone  who  so 
desires  can  frame  an  almanac  by  simply  adding  to  the 
calendar  of  the  year  such  other  tables  as  he  chooses  and 
whatever  information  he  wishes  to  promulgate.  This 
privilege  has  been  exercised  from  very  early  times  to 
the  present  day,  although  on  account  of  abuses  it  has 
been  found  necessary  in  some  countries  to  regulate  it 
by  pubhc  statutes.  Although  in  making  up  his  almanac 
the  compiler  has  a  very  free  hand  yet  he  never  attempts 
to  change  the  calendar. 

It  is  evident  therefore  that  there  is  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  terms  calendar  and  almanac,  and  many  so- 
called  calendars  and  almanacs  are  wrongly  named. 
The  line  of  demarcation  however  is  not  clearly  defined, 
nor  can  any  hard  and  fast  rule  be  laid  down  by  which 
one  can  be  distinguished  from  the  other.  Mr.  John 
Brady  in  his  "Clavis  Calendaria"  says,  *'We  may  with 
propriety  use  calendar  or  almanac  for  any  particular 
year,  but,  as  allusive  to  time  in  general,  calendar  can 
alone  be  properly  applied.  The  calendar  denotes  the 
settled  and  national  mode  of  registering  the  course  of 
time  by  the  sun's  progress;  an  almanac  is  a  subsidiary 
manual  formed  out  of  that  mstrument. " 

Much  has  been  written  and  many  theories  advanced 
as  to  the  origin  and  the  earliest  usage  of  the  terms  cal- 
endar and  almanac.  The  origin  of  the  term  calendar 
seems  to  be  pretty  firmly  established,  but  almanac  still 
poses  in  the  dictionaries  as  of  "origin  unknown."  As 
the  objects  which  they  represent  were  in  use  centuries 
before  these  terms  were  attached  to  them,  no  great 
harm  can  follow,  if,  until  proof  to  the  contrary  is  of- 
fered, we  allow  the  conclusions  of  those  who  claim  that 


6 

the  term  calendar  is  of  Roman  origin,  and  that  the  des- 
ignation almanac  is  derived  from  the  Arabic  article  al, 
the;  and  the  Hebrew  verb,  manach,to  count. 

The  calendar  is  in  no  manner  dependent  upon  the 
almanac.  It  can  stand  alone  and  in  many  cases  is  more 
to  be  desired  when  alone  than  when  accompanied  by 
statistical  or  other  tables.  The  calendar  for  the  single 
year  is  familiar  to  us  in  the  large  cards  or  posters  which 
we  receive  annually  from  banking  and  insurance  offices 
and  commercial  houses,  as  reminders  that  our  patronage 
would  be  welcomed.  They  contain  simply  the  days  and 
months  of  the  year  and  are  handsomely  and  artistically 
decorated  in  order  that  we  may  be  induced  to  hang  them 
on  the  walls  of  our  offices  and  houses  as  ornaments  and 
thus  advertise  the  giver  for  at  least  one  year.  A  writer 
in  the  Boston  Herald,  December  8,  1913,  says:  ''The 
time  of  the  year  is  near  at  hand  when  you  will  expect 
to  drop  into  your  dealer's  and  receive,  free  of  charge, 
a  calendar  to  replace  the  old  1913  one  now  hanging  upon 
your  room  wall  or  over  your  desk.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
you  will  probably  receive  between  now  and  the  first  of 
January  several  of  these  indispensables  and  the  fact 
that  a  small  advertisement  is  imprinted  upon  each  of 
them  in  no  way  prejudices  you  against  them.  For  cal- 
endars and  advertisements  are  considered  as  inseparable 
by  most  of  us.  Few  people,  however,  realize  the  extent 
of  the  industry  which  this  first-of-the-year  calendar 
demand  has  created.  The  magnitude  of  the  business  is 
impressively  suggested  by  the  fact,  that  not  long  ago  a 
convention  of  concerns  manufacturing  calendars  and 
and  allied  advertising  novelties  was  held,  at  which  were 
represented  firms  whose  combined  capital  exceeded 
$10,500,000,  and  whose  annual  volume  of  business  goes 
well  over  the  thirty-million-dollar  mark.  Yet  all  the 
calendar  manufacturers  are  not  included  in  this  asso- 
ciation by  any  means,  and  the  total  output  of  day-mark- 
ers is  estimated  at  close  to  fifty  milUon  dollars. " 

Although  the  great  feature  of  the  almanac  was  and  is 
the  calendar  yet  the  main  object  of  including  it  was  to 


attract  popular  attention,  for  without  it  the  almanac 
would  vary  but  little  from,  nor  be  more  to  be  desired 
than  many  other  manuals  of  general  information. 

Generally  speaking,  almanacs  were  not  given  away, 
but  were  exposed  for  sale  just  the  same  as  any  other 
book.  An  early  printed  almanac,  that  of  Regiomenta- 
nus,  1476,  was  quarto  in  size,  contained  twelve  leaves, 
and  sold  for  ten  crowns  in  gold.  It  gave  the  calendar, 
the  eclipses  for  the  year  and  the  places  of  the  planets. 
An  excellent  example  of  the  almanac  of  the  present  day 
is  "The  World  Almanac  and  Encyclopaedia,"  published 
by  the  New  York  World,  a  newspaper  which  has  a  daily 
circulation  of  over  700,000  copies.  This  almanac  con- 
tains over  600  solidly  printed  pages  of  important  and 
interesting  information  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects, 
pohtical,  religious,  commercial,  social,  and  others  too 
numerous  to  mention.  Many  of  these  subjects  are 
carefully  tabulated  and  the  almanac  more  than  justifies 
its  second  title,  for  it  is  indeed  an  encyclopaedia,  or  a 
comprehensive  summary  of  knowledge. 

Primitive  man,  wandering  over  the  plains  of  Assyria 
and  Mesopotamia  needed  neither  a  calendar  nor  an 
almanac.  The  passing  of  the  year,  a  long  unit  of  time 
of  which  he  had  no  conception,  had  no  significance  for 
him :  months  followed  months  in  regular  succession  with- 
out exciting  any  interest  in  him;  the  day,  which  was  the 
only  unit  of  time  within  his  comprehension,  was  spent 
in  hunting  and  fishing;  while  the  night  was  devoted  to 
sleep.  The  temperature  of  the  country  in  which  he 
lived  was  warm  and  comfortable  and  not  subject  to 
great  climatic  changes.  The  woods  and  streams  boun- 
tifully supplied  all  of  his  needs.  His  wants  were  few, 
he  led  a  simple  life;  he  was  a  barbarian. 

When,  however,  after  centuries  of  roving  he  finally 
selected  a  favorable  situation,  ceased  from  wandering, 
maintained  a  fixed  habitation,  and  lived  upon  herds 
and  flocks  of  domesticated  animals,  the  conditions  were 
changed.  His  mind  awoke  to  the  fact  that  there  were 
many  things  in  this  world  of  which  he  had  never  dreamed, 


8 

and  that  new  responsibilities  had  been  thrust  upon  him. 
In  order  to  preserve  his  own  life  and  the  lives  of  his 
flocks  and  herds  he  must  provide  the  means  of  subsis- 
tence, and  in  order  to  ward  off  the  attacks  of  marauding 
neighbors  he  was  obliged  to  prepare  means  of  defence. 
Barbarism  disappeared;  civilization  began;  the  age  of 
progress  was  commencing. 

To  procure  the  means  of  subsistence  man  was  com- 
pelled to  till  the  soil  which  gave  rise  to  the  science  of 
agriculture,  or  the  art  of  preparing  the  ground,  planting 
the  seeds,  harvesting  the  crops,  and  the  rearing  and 
management  of  live  stock.  In  all  ages  and  among  all 
nations  man  has  paid  great  attention  to  agriculture  and 
no  science  has  risen  to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection. 
In  his  "Remarks  on  Agriculture"  Daniel  Webster  says 
''When  tillage  begins,  other  arts  follow.  The  farmers 
therefore  are  the  founders  of  human  civilization." 

Man  soon  discovered  that  there  were  laws  regulating 
the  planting  of  seeds  which  if  neglected  caused  a  failure 
of  crops.  By  experience  he  learned  that  the  sun  caused 
changes  in  the  cUmate  and  these  changes  having  con- 
smned  a  certain  portion  of  time  were  immediately  re- 
peated. He  found  that  he  must  plant  in  one  of  these 
changes  and  harvest  in  another,  and  that  seed-time  and 
harvest  were  not  interchangeable.  His  unit  of  time, 
therefore,  was  lengthened  from  a  day  to  the  time  which 
included  one  complete  series  of  these  changes  or  seasons, 
which  we  call  a  year.  To  determine  this  new  unit  of 
time,  or  the  length  of  the  year,  must  have  taken  cen- 
turies of  observations  of  the  sun,  as  the  seasons  evidently 
were  caused  by  the  position  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens. 
Man,  however,  did  not  jump  immediately  from  the  day 
to  the  year.  His  mind  was  not  competent  to  grasp  so 
long  a  time-unit  as  a  year.  There  must  be  an  interme- 
diate period.  Even  when  wandering  he  needed  some 
standard  to  measure  the  progress  of  time.  Naturally 
his  first  unit  of  time  would  be  the  time  between  sunrise 
and  sunset.  But  the  varying  length  of  this  unit  would 
make  it  an  uncertain  standard  until  by  experience  he 


9 

learned  to  include  in  this  unit  the  period  of  darkness 
and  to  divide  the  time  between  one  sunrise  and  its  suc- 
cessor into  twenty-four  equal  parts.  Naturally  his 
attention  would  be  attracted  by  the  changes  in  the 
appearances  of  the  moon.  After  having  passed  through 
a  series  of  changes  it  was  observed  that  the  series  was 
immediately  repeated.  The  time  occupied  in  passing 
through  one  series  of  changes  would  suggest  to  him  a 
larger  unit  of  time,  or  what  we  call  a  month,  although 
it  is  doubtful  if  man  in  his  wandering  condition  ever 
used  as  a  measurement  of  time  any  unit  larger  than  a 
day.  When,  however,  he  had  begun  to  till  the  soil  he 
observed  that  in  one  complete  series  of  seasons,  or  a 
year,  there  were  several  repetitions  of  the  changes  of 
the  moon,  or  months.  It  was  therefore  through  the 
month  that  he  was  able  to  comprehend  the  year.  The 
moon,  however,  did  not  cause  the  seasons,  and  man 
learned  that  the  length  of  the  year  could  be  ascertained 
only  by  observation  of  the  sun.  How  man  determined 
the  true  length  of  the  solar  year,  or  the  space  of  time  oc- 
cupied by  the  earth  in  making  the  entire  revolution  of  its 
orbit  is  the  crux  of  philosophers.  Many  centuries  must 
have  passed,  and  many  generations  of  men  must  have 
succeeded  each  other  before  this  knowledge  was  acquired. 
Layard  in  "Nineveh  and  its  Remains"  says,  "The 
origin  of  the  Chaldaean  theology  has  ever  been  a  favor- 
ite theme  of  the  poet  and  philosopher.  The  Assyrian 
plains,  uninterrupted  by  a  single  eminence,  and  rarely 
shadowed  by  a  passing  cloud,  were  looked  upon  as  a  fit 
place  for  the  birth  of  a  system  which  recognized  the 
heavenly  bodies  as  types  of  the  supreme  power  and 
invested  them  with  supernatural  influences.  The  won- 
derful regularity  of  their  periodical  moments,  their 
splendor,  and  even  their  effects  upon  the  physical  world 
must  have  been  apparent  to  the  Chaldaean  shepherd 
long  before  they  became  the  study  of  the  philosopher 
and  the  priest.  Whilst  he  watched  his  sheep  by  night, 
he  marked  the  stars  as  they  rose  above  the  horizon,  and 
learned  to  distinguish  one  from  another,  and  to  invest 


10 

the  most  remarkable  groups  with  distinct  forms.  If  the 
attributes  of  the  Deity  were  to  be  typified,  if  the  hrndted 
intellect  of  man  required  palpable  symbols  to  convey 
ideas  which  he  could  not  understand  in  the  abstract, 
more  appropriate  objects  could  not  have  been  chosen 
than  those  bright  luminaries  whose  motions  and  influ- 
ences were  enveloped  in  mystery,  although  they  them- 
selves were  constantly  present.  The  transition  from 
this  adoration  to  a  national  system  of  astronomy  is 
natural;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  Chaldaeans, 
being  the  first  to  invest  the  heavenly  bodies  with  sacred 
properties,  should  have  been  also  the  first  to  cultivate 
the  sublimest  sciences.  The  periodical  movements  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  were  ascertained  by  constant  ob- 
servations, originating  probably  in  religious  duties;  their 
causes  were  investigated  and  in  process  of  time  their 
motions  were  calculated  and  predicted.  At  a  very  early 
period  the  Assyrian  priests  were  able  to  fix  the  dates 
of  events  by  celestial  phenomena,  and  to  connect  the 
public  records  with  them.  When  Alexander  entered 
Babylon,  330  B.  C,  he  is  said  to  have  been  presented 
with  the  Archives  of  the  empire,  verified  by  astronomical 
calculations  which  extended  over  a  period  of  many  cen- 
turies, and  Callisthenes  was  able  to  send  to  his  relation 
and  teacher  Aristotle,  the  celestial  observations  of  1900 
years. "  This  statement,  however,  is  too  general  and  does 
not  explain  how  early  man  was  enabled  to  solve  the  prob- 
lem which  was  so  important  to  him  by  the  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

In  a  book  published  in  1905  entitled  The  Rational 
Almanac,  Mr.  Moses  B.  Cotsworth  of  York,  England, 
claims  that  the  problem  was  solved  by  means  of  the 
Pyramids  and  that  ''the  real  object  of  these  stupendous 
erections  was  to  determine  the  seasons  and  exact  length 
of  the  year  by  their  regular  graded  and  recurring  shad- 
ows. That  those  massive  towering  works  whether 
called  Vertical  Stones,  Sun-stones,  Monoliths,  Obehsks, 
or  Pyramids,  and  whether  in  Egypt,  Arabia,  Mexico, 
France,  Great  Britain,  or  elsewhere,  were  to  be  used  to 


11 

solve  the  Seasons,  that  greatest  problem  of  early  man 
the  knowledge  of  which  could  be  applied  to  ensure  re- 
liable crops  for  yearly  food."  He  visited  many  of  these 
monuments  in  Egypt,  Arabia  and  Great  Britain  and 
with  the  aid  of  theodolite,  transit,  and  camera,  made 
many  observations  and  investigations  which  proved  con- 
clusively to  him  that  his  theory  was  correct.  Accounts 
of  his  observations,  results  of  his  investigations,  and 
many  of  his  calculations  are  recorded  in  his  almanac, 
the  reading  of  which  is  recommended  to  anyone  interested 
in  the  subject. 

In  the  summation  Mr.  Cotsworth  says,  ''The  Observ- 
ant priests  and  rulers  of  the  Egyptians,  who  realized 
that  famines  were  largely  caused  by  ignorant  people 
sowing  in  wrong  seasons,  had  a  most  difficult  problem  to 
solve  because  their  numerous  people  lived  in  narrow 
strips  of  cultivated  land,  extending  over  1,000  miles 
southward  which  could  not  be  widened  beyond  the  desert 
hills  boundmg  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  As  this  territory 
involved  ranges  of  climate  about  equal  to  those  between 
Canada  and  Mexico,  not  only  did  the  kind  of  crops  vary 
but  also  the  times  of  the  year  at  which  the  soils  must  be 
prepared  and  crops  sown.  Therefore  it  was  an  impera- 
tive necessity  that  they  should  have  almanacs  throughout 
Egypt  to  know  exactly  what  agricultural  work  required 
doing  at  precise  times  as  we  do  now.  Some  tried  years 
of  twelve  lunar  months  (354  days)  which  in  three  years 
removed  their  almanac  times  over  a  month,  causing 
wTong  sowing  times.  Then  the  geometric  year  of  360 
days  to  a  yearly  cycle  was  used  by  some,  who  conse- 
quently within  six  years  drifted  their  time  more  than  a 
month  out  of  gear  with  seasons  and  got  worse  as  time 
went  on.  .  .  .  Yet,  as  population  increased  in  that 
easy  living  country,  the  growing  need  for  food  called 
forth  intense  necessity  for  increasing  the  yearly  food 
crops  by  repeated  sowings  and  greater  varieties  which 
the  priests  and  rulers  knew  could  only  be  maintained 
by  truer  almanac  records,  and  as  all  the  people  worshipped 
the  sun,  the  priestly  observers  were  able  to  induce  the 


12 

people  to  co-operate  with  them  in  raising  that  wonderful 
series  of  pyramids  which  my  long  series  of  experiments 
has  convinced  me  were  successively  built  for  the  great 
purpose  of  finding  out  the  length  of  the  year,  after  the 
priests  had  by  experience  realized  that  their  mighty 
object  could  best  be  obtained  by  studying  the  sun's 
meridian  shadows  cast  from  the  highest  pointed  erec- 
tions they  could  best  build  as  pyramids.  The  stupen- 
dous height  to  which  they  carried  their  pyramids  is 
easily  explained  by  their  enormously  perplexing  difficulty 
in  settling  the  true  length  of  the  year,  which  could  only 
be  differentiated  by  comparing  the  equinoxial  noon 
shadows,  cast  from  the  great  heights  to  which  their 
pyramids  were  so  sacrificingly  raised  for  this  most  ade- 
quate of  objects  men  ever  had  in  view,  the  permanent 
assurance  of  their  individual  and  national  life. 

"After  the  year's  length  was  found  out  by  the  study  of 
the  Great  Pyramids'  shadows,  the  Egyptian  rulers  by 
counting  days  and  forming  a  calendar  could  so  arrange 
their  agricultural  sowings  with  such  accuracy  that  full 
and  regular  crops  could  be  relied  upon,  not  only  to  sup- 
ply all  internal  requirements,  but  also  to  enable  their 
country  to  become  the  granary  for  surrounding  nations, 
whose  wealth  could  be  thus  attracted  to  Egypt  when, 
as  we  know  from  the  earliest  records,  neighboring  nations 
could  know  that  Hhere  was  corn  in  Egypt' — a  phrase 
which  has  lived  through  about  forty  centuries  and  still 
indicates  the  place  of  plenty. 

*'The  designers,  erectors,  or  keepers  of  these  pyramids 
in  Egypt,  Mexico,  and  elsewhere,  are  known  to  have 
constructed,  amended  and  reformed  the  calendar  from 
time  to  time,  for  which  great  benefits  they  have  been 
revered  by  subsequent  generations  ....  The  Great 
Pyramid  of  Egypt,  the  last  built  and  the  most  perfect, 
is  so  constructed  that  it  'consumes  its  own  shadow' 
at  mid-day  of  the  Vernal  Equinox,  or  March  25th,  when 
the  oldest  complete  style  of  year  began. 

"Surely  we  cannot  but  admit  that  such  a  glorious  result 
as  the  birth  of  the  calendar  for  the  welfare  of  the  Egyp- 


13 

tian  people  and  the  furtherance  of  civilization  was  well 
worth  all  the  vast  efforts  and  stupendous  labors  expended 
in  building  even  the  vast  series  of  Egyptian  pyramids 
to  bring  forth  the  knowledge  of  the  true  year,  which  is 
the  greatest  permanent  and  most  practically  valuable 
factor  ever  made  known  to  humanity." 

Having  by  observations  of  the  sun  and  the  pyramidal 
shadows  ascertained  the  true  length  of  the  year  it  was 
possible  to  calculate  the  movements  of  the  other  heaven- 
ly bodies,  especially  by  observations  in  the  night  of  the 
various  planets  and  stars,  and  the  crude  astronomy  of 
the  preceding  ages  became  a  science.  This  method  of 
studying  the  heavens  was  so  superior  to  the  pyramidal 
method  that  it  was  adopted  altogether.  The  pyramid 
became  obsolete  and  the  object  for  which  they  had 
been  built  was  forgotten,  and  they  became  tombs  for 
kings. 

Mr.  Cotsworth's  theory  seems  to  be  a  reasonable 
solution  of  the  question  how  the  length  of  the  solar  year 
was  ascertained.  Allowing  that  his  theory  is  correct, 
as  the  Great  Pyramid  is  supposed  to  have  been  built 
3,000  years  before  the  Christian  era,  our  calendar  is 
nearly  5,000  years  old. 

Mr.  Cotsworth  says,  ''The  development  of  Egyptian 
Zodiacs  and  Almanacs  was  mostly  rigidly  kept  secret 
through  many  generations  but  ultimately  they  were 
sculptured  on  the  tombs  of  the  kings,  showing  the  su- 
preme importance  that  the  Egyptians  attached  to  im- 
proving their  almanacs  during  thousands  of  years." 

He  concludes  as  follows,  "All  the  foregoing  consider- 
ations impress  us  with  the  fact  that  the  highest  powers 
and  greatest  efforts  of  early  men  were  employed  towards 
developing  our  almanac  or  calendar  for  practical  use 
in  life  and  that  since  then  the  leaders  of  men  have  ever 
prized  and  built  upon  that  foundation  stone  of  true 
knowledge." 

The  discovery  of  the  true  length  of  the  year  by  obser- 
vations of  the  shadows  cast  by  the  pyramids  became  the 
basis  for  deducing  the  laws  which  govern  the  movements 


14 

of  the  stars  and  laid  the  foundation  of  astronomy  as 
we  now  understand  it. 

Astronomy  has  been  called  the  first  and  most  sublime 
of  all  the  sciences  and  the  Chaldaeans  and  the  Egyp- 
tians appear  to  have  been  among  the  earUeSt  nations  to 
cultivate  this  science.  By  it  they  were  able  to  materi- 
ally improve  their  condition  and  to  make  their  nations 
superior  to  the  other  nations  of  antiquity.  In  early 
days  the  Egyptians  appear  to  have  taken  the  lead  in 
philosophical  pursuits,  and  it  was  to  Egypt  that  the 
Greeks  were  indebted  for  their  lessons  in  science.  The 
Greeks,  however,  showed  their  genius  by  developing 
the  knowledge  they  had  acquired  from  the  Egyptians 
and  carrying  it  to  a  higher  degree  of  perfection.  Among 
their  great  astronomers  were  Thales  (640  B.  C.),  Pyth- 
agoras (500  B.  C),  Meton  (432  B.  C.),  Eudoxus  (370 
B.  C.),  Hipparchus  (160-125  B.  C.),  and  Ptolemy  (130- 
160  A.  D.),  the  founder  of  the  Ptolemaic  system,  so- 
called  because  Ptolemy  is  the  sole  existing  authority 
on  the  subject  of  ancient  astronomy.  This  system, 
which  is  set  forth  in  his  work  on  astronomy  known  as 
the  ''Almagest,"  places  the  earth  immovable  in  the 
centre  of  the  universe  and  makes  the  entire  heavens 
revolve  around  it  in  the  course  of  twenty-four  hours. 
It  was  universally  accepted  as  the  true  theory  of  the 
universe  and  the  ''Almagest"  was  the  standard  text- 
book on  astronomy  until  the  time  of  Copernicus.  In 
1542  Nicolas  Copernicus,  a  German  astronomer,  pub- 
lished "De  Revolutionibus  Orbium"  in  which  he  ad- 
vanced the  theory  that  the  sun  is  the  immovable  centre 
of  the  universe,  around  which  all  the  planets  revolve  in 
concentric  orbits.  Mercury  and  Venus  within  the  earth's 
orbit  and  all  the  other  planets  without.  This  system, 
now  known  as  the  Copernican  system,  is  considered  to 
be  unquestionably  the  true  system  of  the  universe. 
Although  Copernicus  based  his  system  upon  the  "Kos- 
mos"  of  Pythagoras  yet  he  has  the  credit,  after  the  lapse 
of  centuries,  of  drawing  the  attention  of  philosophers 
to  it  and  of  having  increased  the  probabihty  of  its  truth 
by  his  calculations  and  arguments. 


15 

Notwithstanding  the  great  advance  in  the  science  of 
astronomy,  especially  during  the  last  century,  the 
Ancient  Egyptians  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  pro- 
ficiency in  it.  Previous  to  1500  B.  C.  they  knew  that 
the  length  of  the  solar  year  was  3653^  days.  Although 
they  divided  the  year  into  twelve  lunar  months,  yet 
they  knew  how  to  intercalate  the  necessary  number  of 
days  in  order  to  prevent  a  disturbance  of  the  seasons, 
and  also  to  provide  for  the  odd  fraction  by  introducing 
an  extra  day  at  the  proper  time.  They  divided  their 
year  into  three  seasons  of  four  months  each,  viz.,  spring, 
or  flowering  season,  summer  or  harvest  season,  and  the 
inundation.  They  used  weeks  of  seven  days,  and  days 
and  nights  of  twelve  hours  each,  from  very  early  times. 
Each  month  had  its  name  and  was  supposed  to  be  under 
the  influence  of  a  god,  and  each  day  was  dedicated  to  a 
patron  saint.  They  knew  the  theory  of  the  obliquity 
of  the  ecliptic,  of  the  Zodiac,  that  broad  belt  in  the 
heavens  containing  the  twelve  signs  through  which  the 
sun  passes  in  his  annual  course,  of  the  borrowed  light  of 
the  moon,  of  the  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  of 
eclipses,  and  comets.  They  used  the  clepsydra  as  a 
clock,  the  gnomon  for  determining  the  solstices,  and  a 
hemispherical  dial  for  ascertaining  the  position  of  the 
sun. 

The  reputation  of  the  Egyptians  spread  abroad  and 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  philosophers  of  other 
nations  who  visited  Egypt  for  the  express  purpose  of 
being  taught  by  the  Egyptian  priests.  Thales  and 
Pythagoras  both  acknowledged  their  indebtedness  to 
the  Egyptian  priests  for  instruction  in  several  of  the 
sciences.  The  Greeks  taught  the  Romans,  who  in  turn 
carried  the  knowledge  all  over  Western  Europe,  and 
from  them  it  has  descended  to  us. 

As  agriculture  was  the  basis  of  civilization  the  necessity 
of  a  method  of  computing  time  to  aid  in  keeping  pace 
with  the  passing  of  the  seasons,  to  know  when  to  plant 
in  order  to  be  sure  of  a  harvest,  in  other  words  the  need 
of  a  calendar  was  imperative  not  only  to  the  Egyptians, 


16 

but  also  to  all  other  civilized  nations.  Basing  their 
investigations  upon  the  lunar  and  solar  systems  all  have 
arrived  at  the  same  result,  namely,  a  method  of  comput- 
ing time  by  means  of  the  day,  the  month,  and  the  year. 
Wherever  we  go,  whether  to  Egypt,  Assyria,  Greece, 
Italy,  Mexico,  we  find  time  computed  by  the  same  gen- 
eral system. 

There  was,  however,  a  difference  as  to  the  time  when 
the  year  began,  as  to  the  number  of  months  in  a  year, 
and  as  to  the  length  of  the  days.  Thus,  although  the 
general  plan  was  practically  the  same,  the  different 
arrangement  of  its  many  parts  gave  rise  to  varied  com- 
putations and  great  comphcations. 

In  order  to  preserve  a  proper  recurrence  of  the  seasons 
use  was  made  of  various  cycles,  which  had  been  invented 
by  astronomers  and  mathematicians,  such  as  the  Egyp- 
tian Sothiac  Cycle  of  1460  years;  the  Persian  Cycle  of 
120  years;  the  Chinese  Cycle  of  60  years;  the  Aztec 
Cycle  of  52  years;  and  the  Grecian  Metonic  Cycle  of  19 
years.  It  is  on  account  of  these  and  other  cycles  that 
we  have  so  many  calendars,  and  curiously  enough  we 
find  by  a  study  of  the  Mexican  Calendar  Stone  that  the 
Aztec  Calendar  was  as  perfect  as  any  other. 

The  seasons  are  dependent  on  the  progressive  and 
periodical  changes  of  the  sun's  place  in  declination. 
The  declination  is  maximum  at  the  Tropics  and  zero 
at  the  Equinoxes.  Hence  the  tropical  or  equinoctial 
year  is  the  interval  between  two  successive  arrivals  of 
the  sun  at  the  same  tropic  or  same  point  on  the  equator. 
The  mean  length  is  365  d.  5  h.  48  m.  46  s. 

As  shown,  this  length  was  approximately  ascertained 
by  the  ancient  Egyptians  by  measuring  from  day  to  day 
at  noon  the  shadow  of  a  vertical  gnomon  or  pyramid 
erected  for  the  purpose  on  a  horizontal  plane.  The 
shadow  is  necessarily  minimum  on  the  day  of  the  summer 
solstice,  and  the  interval  between  two  such  minima  is 
the  number  of  entire  days  in  the  solar  year.  A  calendar 
year  of  365  days  would,  however,  go  backward  in  refer- 
ence to  the  tropical  year  about  twenty-five  days  in  a 


17 

century,  and  the  fact,  if  not  the  amount,  would  soon 
become  perceptible  and  therefore  six  hours  and  a  frac- 
tion must  be  added  to  the  length  of  the  calendar  year,  or 
one  day  in  four  years,  to  prevent  the  displacement. 

Although  the  Greeks  are  supposed  to  have  learned 
their  Astronomy  from  the  Egyptians,  the  Egyptian 
priests  evidently  retained  the  secret  of  the  solar  year, 
for  from  the  time  of  Solon,  who  was  born  about  638  B.  C. 
and  was  an  archon  in  594  B.  C,  the  Greek  year  consisted 
of  twelve  lunar  months,  or  354  days,  the  seasons  being 
adjusted  by  adding  three  months  in  the  course  of  eight 
years.  It  was  not  until  the  time  of  Eudoxus  who  flour- 
ished about  366  B.  C.,  and  who  spent  thirteen  years  of 
his  Ufe  in  study  with  the  Egyptian  priests,  that  the  solar 
year  was  adopted  by  the  Greeks. 

In  their  calculations  the  Greeks  considered  the  move- 
ments both  of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  but  the  phases  of 
the  moon  were  more  easily  observed  and  the  Greek 
calendar  was  based  upon  them.  In  attempting  to  com- 
bine the  courses  of  the  sun  and  moon  the  Greeks  found 
themselves  involved  in  great  difficulties.  In  early  times 
it  was  believed  that  the  course  of  the  moon,  or  a  lunation, 
was  exactly  thirty  days  and  that  twelve  of  these  luna- 
tions took  place  in  one  revolution  of  the  sun.  It  was 
found  out,  however,  that  the  first  new  moon  of  the  second 
year  arose  six  days  too  early  and  the  solar  year  had  five 
days  more  before  completion. 

They  then  removed  six  days  from  the  lunar  year  by 
making  the  months  thirty  and  twenty-nine  days  alter- 
nately, and  as  the  lunar  year  was  now  eleven  days 
shorter  than  the  solar  year  they  intercalated  twenty-two 
days  at  the  end  of  every  other  year.  At  the  end  of  four 
years  they  found  that  the  lunar  year  was  shorter  than 
the  solar  year  by  one  day,  owing  to  the  excess  of  six 
hours  over  365  days  in  a  solar  year,  and  this  excess  had 
not  been  provided  for  in  the  intercalatory  period.  In 
order  to  remedy  this  shortage  a  new  method  of  reckon- 
ing was  introduced  by  which  the  intercalation  was  made 
at  the  end  of  four  years  instead  of  two,  and  consisted  of 


18 

forty-five  days,  the  first  three  years  of  this  four-year 
cycle  containing  354  days  and  the  fourth  year  399  days. 

Iphitus,  King  of  EHs,  is  said  to  have  selected  this 
intercalatory  period  of  forty-five  days,  about  884  B.  C, 
as  the  proper  time  during  which  to  hold  the  Olympic 
games,  from  which  time  they  were  regularly  held.  The 
interval  of  four  years  between  each  celebration  was 
called  an  Olympiad,  and  it  is  from  this  that  arose  the 
method  of  computing  time  by  Olympiads,  or  cycles  of 
four  years,  although  it  was  not  until  the  victory  of 
Coroebus  in  the  foot-race  776  B.  C.  that  they  were  em- 
ployed as  a  chronological  era. 

In  the  course  of  time  it  was  found  that  this  four-year 
cycle  was  not  correct  and  other  experiments  were  tried 
in  order  to  find  some  method  by  which  errors  might  be 
removed,  but  without  success  until  Meton,  an  Athenian 
astronomer,  discovered  that  in  the  space  of  19  solar 
years  there  were  235  revolutions  of  the  moon,  and  that 
all  the  difference  there  was  between  one  and  the  other 
was  not  more  than  one  hour  and  a  half  at  the  end  of 
19  years,  after  which  the  moon  found  itself  to  have 
preceded  only  by  that  little  time  of  one  hour  and  a  half 
the  place  where  it  found  itself  before  with  the  sun. 

Meton  proposed  cycles  of  19  years,  or  6940  days, 
distributed  into  months,  so  that  they  corresponded  to 
the  changes  of  the  moon  throughout  the  whole  period. 
This  method  of  computation,  first  adopted  by  the 
Athenians  in  432  B.  C,  was  so  enthusiastically  received 
that  it  was  ordered  to  be  written  with  large  golden 
letters  on  a  tablet  and  set  up  in  the  market-place  at 
Athens.  It  was  called  the  year  of  Meton  and  the  cal- 
endar based  upon  it  was  published  at  Athens  in  the  fourth 
year  of  the  86th  Olympiad  and  began  with  the  16th 
of  July,  432  B.  C.  It  is  also  known  as  the  Lunar  Cycle 
and  that  number,  from  1  to  19  inclusive,  showing  what 
year  of  this  cycle  any  given  year  may  be  is  called  the 
Golden  Number  to  this  day. 

The  months  of  thirty  days  were  known  as  the  full 
months  and  those  of  twenty-nine  days  as  the  hollow 


19 

months.  The  first  of  the  month,  known  as  vov/Ar^vm, 
new  moon,  was  not  the  day  of  the  conjunction  but  the 
day  on  the  evening  of  which  the  new  moon  first  appeared. 
The  full  moon  occurred  on  the  middle  of  the  month  and 
that  day,  the  fifteenth,  was  called  SLx6fxr]VL<:  or  the  div- 
ider of  the  month. 

The  Attic  year  began  with  the  summer  solstice  and 
each  month  was  divided  into  three  decades.  The  first 
decade,  from  the  first  day  to  the  tenth  inclusive,  was 
fir]v  io-Ta^£vo5,  beginning  of  the  month,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  the  first  day,  the  days  were  regularly 
counted  as  the  second,  third,  etc.,  up  to  and  including 
the  tenth  (SeVa),  commencement  days.  The  second 
decade,  from  the  tenth  to  and  including  the  twen- 
tieth, was  fj.r]v  fj.€(TC)v,  middle  of  the  month  and  the 
days  were  counted  regularly  irpCjTr),  SeuVepa,  eVt  Sexa 
first,  second,  etc.,  after  the  tenth,  or  /xco-oVtos,  middle 
days,  the  twentieth  being  called,  eiKas.  The  third  de- 
cade, from  the  twentieth  to  the  thirtieth  was  /x^v  <^^tVwv 
waning  of  the  month,  and  they  were  counted  regularly 
either  onwards  as  irpCiTrj,  Sevrepa,  i-m  etKaSt  first,  second,  etc., 
after  the  twentieth,  or  backwards  as  Sckcitt^,  ^^tVovros,  etc., 
tenth,  ninth,  etc.,  waning  days. 

Central  and  Southern  Italy  were  settled  by  colonies 
from  Greece  long  before  the  foundation  of  Rome,  and 
naturally  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  home  country 
were  continued  in  the  new.  Romulus,  who  was  of  Alban 
descent,  and  who,  according  to  tradition,  founded  Rome 
about  753  B.  C.  is  said  to  have  formed  the  original  Ro- 
man calendar.  This  Roman  year,  like  the  year  of  the 
Albans,  is  said  to  have  consisted  of  ten  months,  four  of 
the  months  having  31  days  and  six  30.  The  four  longer 
months,  Martins,  Mains,  Quintilis,  and  October  were 
called  full  months.  The  six  shorter  months,  Aprilis, 
Junius,  Sextilis,  September,  November,  and  December, 
were  called  hollow  months.  Martins  was  the  first  month, 
the  year  beginning  with  the  vernal  equinox.  The  year 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  lunar  year  and  the  months 
to  have  coincided  with  the  lunar  period,  but  the  304 


20 

days  in  this  year  fall  greatly  short  of  the  solar  year,  and 
how  that  difference  was  made  up  no  real  explanation  is 
given,  but  apparently  left  to  conjectinre.  Macrobius 
says  the  proper  number  of  days  required  to  complete 
the  year  were  added,  but  these  days  did  not  receive  any 
name  as  a  month.  Servius  speaks  of  the  intercalated 
period  as  consisting  of  two  months  which  at  first  had  no 
name  but  were  eventually  called  Janus  and  Februus. 
Little  more  seems  to  have  been  handed  down  with  regard 
to  the  earliest  year  of  the  Romans. 

Numa  Pompilius,  the  immediate  successor  of  Romu- 
lus, is  credited  with  instituting  a  year  of  twelve  months, 
or  355  days,  although  the  moon  in  twelve  lunations 
appeared  to  complete  but  354  days,  the  excess  of  one  day 
being  variously  accounted  for.  To  the  Romulian  year 
he  added  fifty-one  days,  but  as  these  days  were  not  suffi- 
cient to  constitute  two  months  he  took  a  day  from  each 
of  the  hollow  months  which,  added  to  the  51,  made  57 
days,  out  of  which  two  months  were  formed,  January 
with  29  and  February  with  28  days.  The  year,  still 
beginning  with  March,  consisted  of  twelve  lunar  months, 
four  of  which  contained  31  days,  seven  29,  and  one  28 
days.  All  contained  an  odd  number  of  days  save  Feb- 
ruary which  alone  was  hollow,  and  hence  deemed  more 
unlucky  than  the  rest. 

At  the  end  of  two  years,  the  year  of  Numa  would  have 
been  about  22  days  in  arrear  of  the  solar  period  and  ac- 
cordingly Numa  is  credited  with  inserting  an  intercalary 
month  of  22  or  23  days  in  alternate  years,  at  or  near  the 
end  of  February,  to  bring  the  civil  year  into  agreement 
with  the  return  of  the  seasons  and  to  which  was  given 
the  name  of  Mercidonius. 

Although  credited  to  Numa  it  is  not  really  known  when 
the  year  of  355  days,  with  its  intercalary  month  Merci- 
donius every  alternate  year,  was  instituted,  but  it  is 
probable  it  came  from  the  Greeks  who  in  432  B.  C. 
adopted  the  Metonic  Cycle.  Having  made  his  changes, 
Numa  placed  the  care  of  the  calendar  in  the  hands  of 
the  Pontifical  College  and  whatever  changes  were  made 
were  made  by  it. 


21 

The  calendar,  as  reformed  by  Numa  and  the  priests, 
remained  in  force  until  aj^ain  reformed  by  Julius  Caesar 
in  the  year  40  B.  C.  Through  the  negligence  of  the 
Pontifical  College  67  days  had  been  lost  which  Caesar 
intercalated  between  November  and  December.  As 
this  year  happened  to  be  the  year  to  which  23  days  were 
to  be  added  according  to  the  regular  schedule,  the  num- 
ber of  days  in  this  year  was  445,  which  caused  it  to  be 
known  as  the  year  of  confusion.  Caesar  employed 
Sosogines,  an  Egyptian  astronomer,  to  make  calcula- 
tions of  the  annual  course  of  the  sun  which  was  found 
to  consist  of  365  days  and  about  six  hours.  A  new  cal- 
endar was  formed  and  established  by  public  edict,  in 
which  the  first  and  every  alternate  month  contained 
31  days,  and  the  remaining  months  30  days,  excepting 
February  which  contained  29  days,  or  365  days  for  the 
year.  Also  the  name  of  the  month,  ''Quintilis, "  was 
changed  to  Julius  and  the  calendar  was  known  as  the 
Julian  calendar.  In  order  that  the  six  extra  hours  of 
each  year  should  be  provided  for,  Caesar  directed  that 
one  day  should  be  intercalated  every  fourth  year  making 
such  year  to  consist  of  366  days.  This  day  was  intro- 
duced between  the  23rd  and  the  24th  of  February,  which 
was  called  the  sixth  before  the  Calends  of  March,  or  the 
23rd  of  February  reckoned  twice  over  by  accounting 
these  two  days  as  one,  whence  the  year  which  contained 
this  day  became  known  as  bissextile,  or  twice  six,  which 
name  it  retains,  although  erroneously,  to  the  present 
time. 

Notwithstanding  the  carefulness  of  Caesar,  the  pontiffs 
made  so  great  an  error  that  Augustus  Caesar,  the  nephew 
and  successor  of  Caesar  was  obliged  to  reform  the  cal- 
endar again,  concerning  which  Macrobius  says,  ^'The 
priests  gave  occasion  to  a  new  error  by  their  intercala- 
tions. For  whereas  they  ought  to  have  intercalated 
that  day  which  is  made  up  out  of  the  four  times  six  hours, 
at  the  latter  end  of  each  fourth  year  and  the  beginning 
of  the  fifth,  they  made  the  intercalation  at  the  beginning 
of   each    fourth    year.      This    erroneous    intercalation 


22 

was  continued  for  thirty-six  years  together,  in  which 
space  of  time  twelve  days  were  intercalated  instead  of 
nine.  This  mistake  was  likewise  corrected  by  Augustus, 
who  ordered,  that  the  following  years  should  not  be 
intercalated;  so  that  these  three  days,  which  by  the  over- 
hastiness  of  the  priests,  were  overreckoned,  might  be 
swallowed  up  in  this  interval.  Afterwards,  he  ordered, 
pursuant  to  Caesar's  intention,  that  at  the  beginning 
of  each  fifth  year  one  day  should  be  intercalated,  and 
that  this  order  should,  for  an  everlasting  remembrance, 
be  cut  in  brass. " 

Augustus  also  caused  the  name  of  the  month,  Sextilis, 
to  be  changed  to  Augustus,  and  in  order  that  the  number 
of  days  in  this  month  should  be  equal  to  the  number  of 
days  in  Julius  he  deprived  February  of  one  of  its  days 
and  added  it  to  Augustus.  In  the  calendar  as  reformed 
by  Augustus,  therefore,  Februarius  contains  28  days, 
Aprilis,  Junius,  September  and  November  contain  30 
days  each,  and  the  remaining  months  31,  and  an  extra 
day  was  intercalated  according  to  the  edict  above.  The 
Romans  abolished  in  Asia,  Egypt  and  all  other  countries 
under  their  sway  the  old  method  of  reckoning  by  lunar 
years  and  compelled  the  adoption  of  the  Julian  calendar 
which  was  the  generally  recognized  calendar  for  nearly 
sixteen  centuries,  when  certain  errors  having  been  found 
the  calendar  was  once  more  reformed.  John  Brady, 
in  the  Clavis  Calendaria,  described  the  change  as  fol- 
lows: "Pope  Gregory  the  Thirteenth,  finding  that,  by 
the  introduction  of  the  Bissextile  days,  a  difference  had 
arisen  of  ten  days  between  the  calendar  and  actual  time, 
owing  to  the  odd  minutes  and  seconds  which  the  Bissex- 
tile year  occasioned  the  calendar  to  exceed  the  true  period 
of  the  sun's  progress;  and  being  desirous  of  celebrating 
Easter  according  to  the  original  institution  he,  by  the 
advice  of  Clavius  and  Ciaconius,  caused  those  ten  days 
to  be  abated  in  the  year  1582,  by  having  the  11th  of 
March  called  the  21st,  thereby  making  March  to  consist 
of  21  days  only:  and,  in  order  to  prevent  the  seasons  of 
the  year  from  retrograding  as  they  had  done  before, 


23 

he  ordained  that  three  intercalary  days  should  be  omitted 
in  every  400  years,  by  reckoning  all  those  centurial  years 
whose  date  consisted  of  entire  hundreds  not  divisible 
by  4,  or  into  hundreds  without  remainder,  such  as  1700, 
1800,  1900,  2100,  etc.,  to  be  only  common  years,  and 
not  Bissextile  years,  as  they  would  otherwise  have  been. 
This  correction  was  called  the  Gregorian  or  new  style, 
in  opposition  to  the  Julian  or  old  style;  and  has  been 
adopted  by  almost  every  Christian  nation,  though  it 
was  not  admitted  into  Great  Britain  until  the  year  1752 
when  the  10  days  expunged  by  Gregory,  and  another 
day,  which  since  his  time  had  accrued,  were  taken  out 
of  the  British  calendar,  and  the  3rd  of  September  reck- 
oned the  14th,  whereby  that  month  consisted  of  only 
19  days.  The  Gregorian  style  was  immediately  acceded 
to  by  all  those  parts  of  Europe  which  were  under  Papal 
authority,  but  the  Protestants  adhered  to  the  Julian 
style  with  obstinate  pertinacity,  and  the  Protestants  of 
Germany  have  the  credit  of  having  first  rectified  such 
inconsistency,  by  throwing  11  days  out  of  their  calendar 
m  1700;  the  Russian  stills  adhere  to  the  Julian  style  and 
should  they  now  adopt  the  Gregorian  style,  which  they 
have  decided  to  do,  they  will  be  obliged  to  drop  13  days 
from  their  calendar. 

"As  by  this  last  regulation,  the  register  of  time  has 
been  brought  so  close  to  the  actual  solar  year  as  not  to 
amount  to  a  day  in  about  5000  years,  there  is  every  reason 
to  conclude  that  not  any  further  improvements  are 
hereafter  likely  to  be  attempted;  and  it  is  greatly  to  be 
hoped,  that,  without  a  reasonable  prospect  of  material 
improvement,  the  venerable  structure,  with  all  its  pro- 
gressive advances  towards  perfection,  may  be  left  as 
it  now  stands." 

The  epoch  of  the  reformed  Julian  calendar  as  reckoned 
by  chronologists  is  January  1,  45  B.  C.  The  birth  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  assumed  for  chronological  purposes  to 
have  occurred  on  the  25th  of  December  in  the  45th 
year  of  the  Julian  era,  and  as  by  the  Julian  calendar 
January  1st  was  made  the  beginning  of  the  year,  the  first 


24 

calendar  year  of  the  Christian  era  commenced  seven  days 
after  the  event  which  it  nominally  dates,  or  on  January 
1st  of  the  46th  Julian  year.  The  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era  terminated  therefore  December  31st,  100, 
and  the  nineteenth  century  December  31st,  1900. 

The  various  nations  have  differed  widely  as  to  the 
place  among  the  seasons  of  the  beginning  of  the  year. 
The  Roman  year  before  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar  began 
at  the  vernal  equinox.  The  Greek  year  before  the  time 
of  Meton  began  at  the  winter  solstice;  afterwards  at  the 
summer  solstice.  The  Egyptian,  Persian,  and  Jewish 
year  began  at  the  autumnal  equinox.  In  England  the 
year  began  on  the  25th  of  March  previous  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Gregorian  calendar  which  took  place  in  1752. 
The  same  usage  prevailed  in  the  British  American  col- 
onies from  Nova  Scotia  to  Georgia  and  was  abandoned 
at  the  same  time. 

As  the  power  of  the  Roman  Empire  extended  over 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  then  known  world,  the  Julian 
Calendar,  or  at  least  that  part  of  it  which  related  to  the 
political  distribution  of  time,  was  in  force  in  all  parts  of 
the  empire.  The  Greeks  substituted  a  solar  for  a  lunar 
year  and  ceased  from  intercalating  forty-five  days  in 
each  Olympiad.  The  Egyptians  were  obliged  to  make 
their  first  day  of  the  year,  Thot,  a  fixed  day  rather  than 
dependent  upon  the  rising  of  a  star,  and  the  Jews  aban- 
doned their  intercalation  of  one  month  in  120  years. 
In  regard  to  religion,  festivals,  games,  etc.,  no  change 
was  made  and  each  nation  followed  its  ancient  customs. 
For  instance,  the  Jews  continued  the  ancient  observance 
of  the  Law  of  Moses  without  change  of  the  Sabbath, 
feasts  or  ceremonies,  and  the  Pascha  was  observed  on 
the  fifteenth  of  March. 

The  first  Christians  adopted  the  Julian  Calendar  as 
regards  the  distribution  of  time,  but  celebrated  their 
religious  festivals  very  nearly  on  the  same  days  as  the 
Jews,  although  their  reasons  for  observing  these  days 
were  different  from  those  of  the  Jews.  They  removed 
the  eight  Nundinal  letters  from  the  Calendar  and  sub- 


25 

stituted  the  seven  Dominical  letters  in  order  to  mark 
Sunday,  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as  the  day  of  rest, 
rather  than  Saturday,  the  seventh  day,  which  was  ob- 
served by  the  Jews. 

The  first  Christians  were  of  the  Jewish  nation  and 
celebrated  Pascha  not  on  account  of  the  Exodus  from 
Egypt,  but  because  on  that  day  they  partook  of  the 
Last  Supper  with  Christ.  Later  when  people  of  other 
nations  had  adopted  Christianity,  there  were  two  opin- 
ions in  regard  to  the  Pascha  of  Christ,  one  from  life  to 
death  on  the  day  of  the  crucifixion,  and  the  other  from 
death  to  life  on  the  day  of  the  resurrection.  The  Eastern 
Christians  adopted  the  first  opinion  and  celebrated  it 
with  the  Jews  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  moon  of  the 
first  month,  or  the  fifteenth  of  March,  the  day  at  that 
time  beginning  with  midday.  The  Western  Christians 
adopted  the  second  opinion  and  celebrated  it  on  the 
same  day  if  it  fell  on  Sunday,  and  if  not,  on  the  Sunday 
following.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  of  the  Christian  Era  that  both  parties  agreed  to 
observe  as  Pascha  the  Sunday  which  fell  on  the  fifteenth 
of  March  or  immediately  after.  In  the  course  of  time 
the  opinion  arose  that  it  was  un-Christian  to  observe 
so  important  a  festival  on  the  same  day  with  the  Jews, 
and  at  the  Council  of  Nice  which  was  held  in  325  A.  D. 
it  was  decreed  that  the  feast  of  Pascha,  known  to  us  as 
Easter,  should  be  the  first  Sunday  after  the  fourteenth 
day  of  the  moon  of  the  first  month ;  but  in  case  the  four- 
teenth day  of  the  moon  fell  on  Sunday  it  should  be  held 
on  the  following  Sunday,  that  is  seven  days  after,  de- 
claring that  the  first  month  was  that  of  which  the  four- 
teenth moon  fell  upon  the  day  of  the  Equinox  of  Spring, 
or  immediately  after.  It  was  also  decided  that  the  day 
of  the  Vernal  Equinox  was  the  twenty-first  of  March. 

As  the  course  of  the  moon  was  thus  made  the  basis  for 
determining  the  time  of  the  Pascha,  recourse  was  had 
to  the  lunar  cycle  of  Meton  from  which  was  deduced 
the  rule  by  which  may  be  found  the  date  of  Pascha  or 
Easter  for  any  year. 


26 

It  will  therefore  be  seen  that  the  discovery  of  the  true 
length  of  the  solar  year  as  a  basis  for  the  measurement 
of  the  progress  of  time,  required  the  labor  of  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  men  for  centuries,  and  exacted  the 
closest  attention  of  the  priests  and  philosophers  for  many 
generations.  To  make  a  proper  arrangement  of  the  divi- 
sions of  time,  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  civil  institu- 
tions, in  other  words  to  form  a  calendar,  has  occupied 
the  talents  of  the  wisest  men,  and  it  is  not  yet  completed. 

The  month  is  a  period  of  time  derived  from  the  motion 
of  the  moon.  The  '^ sidereal"  inonth  may  be  regarded 
as  the  period  in  which  the  moon,  as  seen  from  a  fixed 
star,  would  appear  to  make  a  complete  revolution  round 
the  earth;  it  is  evidently  the  period  in  which  she  passes 
through  the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac.  Its  mean  value 
during  the  year  is  slightly  in  excess  of  27  32/100  days. 
The  "synodical"  month,  more  commonly  called  the 
''lunar"  month,  or  ''lunation,"  is  the  period  of  time 
during  which  the  moon  goes  through  all  her  phases.  It 
is  usually  reckoned  from  new  moon  to  new  moon;  to 
complete  the  lunation  the  moon  must  not  only  pass 
through  the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  but  also  come 
again  to  occupy  her  old  position  relatively  to  the  sun, 
which  has  itself  advanced  in  the  Zodiac,  hence  the  lunar 
is  longer  than  the  sidereal  month.  The  mean  value  of 
lunation  is  very  slightly  in  excess  of  29  53/100  days.  The 
"solar"  month  is  the  12th  part  of  one  solar  year  and  is 
slightly  more  than  30  43/100  days.  The  "anomalistic" 
or  irregular  month  is  the  period  in  which  the  moon  passes 
from  perigee  to  perigee  of  her  orbit,  the  perigee  being 
that  position  in  the  moon's  orbit  nearest  to  the  earth. 
It  differs  from  the  sidereal  month  because  the  perigee 
varies  its  position. 

The  line  of  the  nodes  of  the  moon's  orbit,  the  points 
where  the  moon  intersects  the  ecliptic,  or  apparent  path 
of  the  sun  around  the  earth,  varies  its  position,  and  the 
"nodial"  month,  or  the  period  of  her  motion  from  ascend- 
ing to  descending  node,  differs  from  the  other  months 
mentioned  above. 


27 

The  lunar  month  was  used  by  the  Egyptians  and  Chal- 
daeans,  and  is  still  used  by  the  Jews  and  Turks. 

The  twelve  "civil"  or  calendar  months  of  the  year 
have  from  28  to  31  days  each.  They  are  not  equal 
divisions  of  the  year,  some  April,  June,  September 
and  November  consisting  of  30  days,  and  the  remainder 
of  31  days,  except  February  to  which  only  28  days  are 
assigned,  and  the  addition  every  fourth  year  of  one  more 
day. 

These  distinctions  often  give  rise  to  much  confusion 
as  to  the  time  intended  to  be  designated  by  a  month. 
In  popular  language  it  is  often  understood  to  be  four 
weeks,  as  this  is  very  nearly  an  equal  period,  expressed 
by  weeks,  to  the  month.  This  is  even  laid  down  by 
Blackstone  as  the  legal  definition  of  the  term,  so  that  a 
lease  for  twelve  months  is  only  for  forty-eight  weeks; 
but  the  expression  of  a  "twelve-month"  has  been  legally 
held  to  mean  a  solar  year. 

The  term  "week"  is  derived  from  the  Latin  vicis, 
by  turns,  one  after  the  other;  Gothic,  wiko,  a  succession 
or  change;  Anglo  Saxon,  weocu  or  wicu,  a  week.  As 
applied  to  time  it  designates  generally  a  period  of  seven 
days.  Although  not  founded  on  any  natural  phenom- 
enon yet  it  was  probably  first  instituted  as  a  broad  sub- 
division of  the  periodical  month,  corresponding  to  the 
four  quarters  of  the  moon. 

At  a  very  early  period  the  Egyptians  counted  seven 
periodical  days,  naming  them  according  to  the  seven 
planets  then  assimaed.  The  application  of  the  names 
of  the  planets  to  the  days  of  the  week  in  the  order  they 
now  stand,  originated  in  this  way.  It  was  an  astrologi- 
cal notion  that  each  planet  in  order  presided  over  an 
hour  of  the  day,  the  order,  according  to  their  distances 
from  the  earth,  being  in  the  geocentric  system,  Saturn, 
Jupiter,  Mars,  the  sun,  Venus,  Mercury,  the  moon. 
Assuming  Saturn  to  preside  over  the  first  hour  of  Sat- 
urday, and  assigning  to  each  succeeding  hour  a  planet 
in  order,  the  22nd  hour  will  fall  again  to  Saturn,  the 
23rd  to  Jupiter,  the  24th  to  Mars,  and  the  first  hour  of 


28 

the  next  day  to  the  sun;  in  the  same  way  the  first  hour 
of  the  following  day  falls  to  the  moon,  and  so  on.  The 
days  were  named  from  the  planets  which  presided  over 
the  first  hour  and  were  known  as  Sun-day,  Moon-day, 
Mars-day,  Mercury-day,  Jupiter-day,  Venus-day,  and 
Saturn-day.  From  Alexandria  this  seven  days'  week 
was  imported,  together  with  the  individual  days,  to  the 
Greeks,  who  had  previously  divided  their  months  into 
three  decades,  and  to  the  Romans,  about  the  time  of 
Christ.  Rome  had  previously  counted  her  periods  by 
eight  days,  the  eighth  day  itself  being  originally  called 
Nundinae,  a  term  later  applied  to  the  whole  cycle,  on 
which  day  the  country  people  were  in  the  habit  of  com- 
ing to  town  for  the  purposes  of  business,  to  inquire  after 
public  news,  the  changes  in  government  and  legislation, 
vacant  places,  and  the  rest.  The  seven  days'  cycle  soon 
found  great  favor  among  the  Romans  although  the 
change  was  not  introduced  before  Constantine. 

The  Jews  as  well  as  the  early  Christians  had  no  special 
names  for  the  single  days,  but  counted  their  number 
from  the  previous  Sabbath,  beginning  with  Sunday  as 
the  first  after  the  Sabbath,  and  ending  with  Friday  as 
the  sixth  after  the  previous  Sabbath,  or  Eve  of  the  next 
Sabbath,  or  the  seventh  day,  it  being  called  the  Sabbath 
from  the  Hebrew  shabath,  to  rest,  and  designates  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week,  set  aside  in  the  Old  Testament, 
as  a  period  of  cessation  from  work. 

Whether  the  Sabbath  was  an  institution  of  pre-Mosaic 
times  or  was  purely  Mosaic  is  an  open  question.  The 
division  of  the  week  into  seven  days  antedated  the  time 
of  Moses,  but  the  celebration  of  the  seventh  day  as  a 
day  consecrated  to  Jehovah  is  first  mentioned  after  the 
Exodus  from  Egypt  (Exodus  xiii,  6;  xx  :  8-11.)  The 
Jewish  name  ''Sabbath"  came  into  use  in  Rome  and 
from  it  spread  all  over  the  Roman  empire. 

At  what  date  the  Sunday,  or  the  first  day  of  the  week 
began  to  be  generally  used  by  Christians  as  a  stated 
time  for  religious  meetings  is  not  definitely  known,  but 
whatever  may  have  been  the  opinion  and  practice  of 


29 

the  early  Christians  in  regard  to  cessation  from  labor  on 
Sunday,  unquestionably  the  first  law,  either  ecclesias- 
tical or  civil,  by  which  the  sabbatical  observance  of 
that  day  is  known  to  have  been  ordained,  is  the  edict 
of  Constantine,  321  A.  D.,  which  reads:  "Let  all  judges, 
inhabitants  of  the  cities,  and  artificers  rest  on  the  ven- 
erable Sunday.  But  in  the  country,  husbandmen  may 
freely  and  lawfully  apply  to  the  business  of  agriculture; 
since  it  often  happens  that  the  sowing  of  corn  and  plant- 
ing of  vines  cannot  be  so  advantageously  performed 
on  any  other  day;  lest,  by  neglecting  the  opportunity, 
they  should  lose  the  benefits  which  the  divine  bounty 
bestows  on  us." 

It  is  curious  to  notice  how  the  names  of  the  five  days 
of  the  week  which  followed  those  named  after  the  sun 
and  moon,  became  Germanized,  as  it  were,  or  the  names 
of  the  originally  imported  gods  translated  into  those 
of  the  Germanic  divinities.  Thus  the  day  of  Mars, 
the  dies  Martis  of  the  Romans,  became  Tyrsdag  among 
the  Germans,  the  god  Tyr  being  in  German  the  same  as 
the  god  Mars  in  Latin,  namely  the  god  of  war,  and  the 
third  day  of  the  w^ek  was  called  Tuesday.  The  fourth 
day,  the  day  of  JMercury,  became  Wednesday,  being 
named  from  Wodan,  or  Odin,  the  chief  of  the  gods. 
Jupiter's  day,  the  fifth  day,  was  changed  to  Thor's  day, 
or  Thursday,  from  Thor,  the  god  of  thunder.  The  sixth 
day,  the  day  of  Venus  was  named  Friday  in  honor  of 
Freya,  the  wife  of  Odin.  Saturn's  day,  being  the  seventh 
day  was  called  Sanstag  or  Sabbath  day. 

Speaking  generally,  with  the  ancients  as  with  us, 
a  day  was  the  name  applied  to  the  time  during  which, 
apparently,  the  sun  performed  his  course  around  the 
earth.  This,  however,  is  not  exactly  true.  It  is  not  a 
complete  rotation  of  the  earth  which  makes  a  day  in 
its  usual  sense.  If  the  time  is  noted  when  a  particular 
fixed  star  is  exactly  on  the  meridian,  when  the  same  star 
comes  again  to  the  meridian  the  next  day,  the  earth  has 
made  exactly  one  rotation,  and  the  time  that  has  elapsed 
is  called  a  sidereal  day.     This  portion  of  time  is  always 


30 

of  the  same  length  and  on  account  of  its  unvarying  uni- 
formity sidereal  time  is  much  used  by  astronomers. 
The  passage  of  a  star  is  not  conspicuous  enough  to  be 
used  in  regulating  the  affairs  of  men  in  general.  It  is 
not  a  complete  rotation  of  the  earth,  but  a  complete 
alternation  of  light  and  darkness  that  constitutes  their 
day.  This  is  called  the  civil  or  solar  day  and  is  meas- 
iu"ed  between  two  meridian  passages  of  the  sun,  and  is 
about  four  minutes  longer  than  the  sidereal  day,  which 
is  due  to  the  movement  of  the  earth  in  the  ecliptic.  With 
the  Babylonians  the  civil  day  began  with  the  rising  of 
the  sun;  with  the  Greeks  with  the  setting  of  the  sun; 
and  with  the  Romans  with  midnight. 

The  time  between  the  rising  and  the  setting  of  the  sun 
was  called  the  natural  day  and  in  very  early  times  the 
Greeks  divided  the  natural  day  into  forenoon,  midday, 
a  period  during  which  the  sun  was  supposed  to  stand  still, 
and  afternoon.  The  Romans  divided  the  natural  day 
into  antemeridian  and  postmeridian,  meridian  being 
considered  the  point  at  which  one  ended  and  the  other 
began.  It  was  one  of  the  duties  of  an  officer  known  as 
an  accensus  to  proclaim  the  time  of  midday  when  from 
the  Curia  he  saw  the  sun  appearing  between  the  Ros- 
trum, where  orators  harangued,  and  the  spot  called 
the  Station  of  the  Greeks,  where  ambassadors  stopped 
when  deputed  to  the  Senate.  This  was  the  nearest 
approach  made  by  the  Romans  for  ascertaining  the  hour 
for  centuries.  Although  time  was  early  divided  into 
years  according  to  the  motions  of  the  sun;  into  months 
according  to  the  moon;  and  into  days  by  the  alternation 
of  hght  and  darkness,  yet  it  was  long  before  any  accurate 
measure  was  found  for  a  division  of  the  day  itself. 

As  the  Greeks  divided  their  month  into  three  parts 
and  reckoned  each  day  as  such  a  part  of  a  decade,  so 
the  Romans  divided  their  month  into  three  parts  and 
reckoned  the  days  by  Calends,  Nones,  and  Ides. 

The  month  always  began  upon  the  first  day  of  the 
moon.  Therefore,  at  the  first  appearance  of  the  new 
moon,  one  of  the  pontifices  assembled  the  people  in  the 


31 

Capitol  near  the  Curia  Calabria  and  there  called  over 
as  many  days  as  there  were  between  that  and  the  Nones 
whether  five  or  seven,  by  so  often  repeating  the  word 
"calo,"  and  from  tliis  word  "calo, "  I  call,  this  day  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Calends,  and  that  which  was  to  be 
called  became  known  as  Calendar. 

On  the  Nones  the  country  people  assembled  for  the 
purpose  of  learning  from  the  Rex  Sacrorum  the  various 
festivals  to  be  celebrated  during  the  month,  and  the  days 
upon  which  they  would  fall.  In  hke  manner  all  who 
wished  to  go  to  law  were  obliged  to  inquire  of  the  privi- 
leged few  on  what  day  they  might  bring  their  suit,  and 
received  the  reply  as  if  from  the  lips  of  an  astrologer. 

The  ability  to  give  this  information  was  long  a  source 
of  power  and  profit  to  the  priests  who  jealously  guarded 
the  secret  of  their  information  and  surrounded  it  with 
a  veil  of  mystery. 

The  calhng  of  the  Calends,  and  the  announcing  by 
word  of  mouth  of  the  festival  and  Court  days  continued 
imtil  304  B.  C,  when  Cneius  Flavins,  a  curule  aedile, 
and  scribe  to  Appius  Claudius,  censor,  having  gained 
access  to  the  pontifical  books  copied  out  all  the  requisite 
information,  had  it  engraved  on  tablets,  and  hung  them 
up  in  the  forum  for  the  use  of  the  people  at  large. 

From  this  time  siich  tables  became  common  and  were 
known  by  the  name  of  Fasti.  They  contained  an  enum- 
eration of  the  days  and  months  of  the  year,  Nundinae, 
Dies  Fasti  and  Nefasti,  astronomical  observations  on 
the  fixed  stars,  prophecies  on  the  weather,  notices  of 
glorious  victories,  etc.  Indeed  they  varied  but  little 
from  the  modern  Ecclesiastical  Calendar. 

In  early  times  the  Calends  of  March,  but  after  the 
adoption  of  the  Julian  year  in  45  B.  C,  the  Calends  of 
January,  was  more  solemn  than  the  Calends  of  any  of 
the  other  months.  It  was  New  Year's  Day.  It  was  the 
day  upon  which  the  magistrates  entered  upon  their 
office.  On  this  day  friends  wished  each  other  good  for- 
tune and  interchanged  presents.  It  was  also  the  day 
upon  which  debtors  were  obliged  to  pay  interest  upon 


32 

their  debts,  and  settle  their  accounts,  hence  according 
to  Horace  ''tristae  calendae. "  The  interest  or  account 
book  was   called   "  calendarium. " 

The  "Nones"  took  their  name  from  being  the  ninth 
day  before  the  Ides  reckoning  inclusively.  In  March, 
May,  July,  and  October  the  Nones  fell  on  the  7th  and 
the  Ides  on  the  15th  of  the  month;  in  the  remaining 
months  the  Nones  fell  on  the  5th  and  the  Ides  on  the 
13th. 

According  to  Macrobius  the  name  ''Ides"  was  derived 
from  the  Etruscan  verb  iduo,  I  divide,  because  it  divided 
or  nearly  halved  the  month.  Days  were  reckoned  as 
so  many  days  before  the  Nones,  Ides,  or  Calends,  reck- 
oning inclusively. 

The  division  of  the  natural  day  into  twelve  equal 
parts  was  adopted  by  the  Romans  about  291  B.  C,  when 
L.  Papitius  Cursor  erected  in  the  Court  of  the  Temple 
of  Quirinus  a  solarium  horologium  or  sun-dial  which  he 
had  taken  in  the  war  with  Pyrrhus.  As  this  sun-dial 
had  been  made  for  a  different  meridian  and  could  be 
used  only  in  the  day-time  when  the  sky  was  clear,  it 
marked  the  time  at  Rome  very  imperfectly. 

About  157  B.  C,  Scipio  Nasica  introduced  the  clep- 
sydra or  water-clock,  the  principle  of  which  was  very 
similar  to  what  we  know  as  the  sand  hour-glass,  which 
was  of  the  utmost  utility  as  it  could  be  used  in  all  weath- 
ers, by  night  as  well  as  by  day.  The  clepsydra  of  Scipio 
Nasica  is  described  as  follows  by  Pancirollus.  ''They 
took  a  vessel  made  of  glass,  in  the  bottom  of  which  was 
a  narrow  hole  done  about  with  gold,  lest  the  water  should 
wear  it  away:  on  the  other  part  of  the  vessel  was  drawn 
a  right  line  having  the  twelve  hours  set  upon  it,  after 
which  they  filled  the  vessel  with  water,  which  issued 
drop  by  drop  out  of  the  little  hole;  in  the  water  was  a 
cork  with  a  pin  stuck  into  it,  and  the  point  of  that  pin 
turned  to  the  first  hour  when  the  glass  was  full  and  to 
the  other  hours  in  proportion  to  the  gradual  decrease 
of  the  water."  It  was  also  about  this  time  that  the 
twelve  equal  parts  of  the  day  were  called  hours.     As  the 


33 

natural  day  was  constantly  changing  in  length,  the 
length  of  these  hours  changed  every  day.  At  the  sum- 
mer solstice,  when  the  natural  day  contained  about 
sixteen  of  our  hours,  the  hour  contained  seventy-five 
minutes;  in  the  winter  solstice  when  the  natural  day 
contained  only  about  eight  of  our  hours,  each  hour  con- 
tained forty-five  minutes.  The  present  system  of  mak- 
ing a  day  to  extend  from  midnight  and  of  dividing  it 
into  twenty-four  equal  parts  regardless  of  daylight  or 
darkness  was  adopted  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury A.  D.,  and  the  first  calendar  in  which  we  find  the 
duration  of  day  and  night  marked  according  to  equinoc- 
tial hours,  is  the  ''Calendarium  Rusticum  Farnesianum." 

Both  the  sun-dial  and  clepsydra  were  invented  in  the 
East  and  had  been  in  use  from  very  early  times  among 
the  Egyptians.  The  first  mention  of  the  sun-dial  is  in 
the  Bible,  II  Kings,  20th  chap.,  llth  verse,  which  reads: 
"And  Isaiah  the  prophet  cried  unto  the  Lord:  And  he 
brought  the  shadow  ten  degrees  backward,  by  which  it 
had  gone  down  in  the  dial  of  Ahaz. "  Also  the  8th  verse 
of  the  38th  chapter  of  Isaiah  reads,  ''Behold  I  will  bring 
again  the  shadow  of  the  degrees,  which  is  gone  down  in 
the  sun-dial  of  Ahaz,  ten  degrees  backward.  So  the 
SUA  returned  ten  degrees,  by  which  degrees  it  was  gone 
down."  Ahaz,  the  father  of  Hezekiah,  the  king  of  Ju- 
dah,  died  about  726  B.   C. 

The  time  of  the  invention  of  the  clepsydra  is  unknown, 
but  it  was  in  common  use  in  the  time  of  Aristophanes, 
who  was  born  about  444  B.  C. 

But  previous  to  the  sun-dial  and  clepsydra  the  ancients 
used  the  gnomon,  which  is  the  earliest  and  simplest 
instrument  for  measuring  the  time  of  day  which  has 
been  mentioned.  It  was  a  staff  or  pillar  standing  per- 
pendicularly in  a  place  exposed  to  the  sun  so  that  the 
length  of  its  shadow  might  be  easily  ascertained.  The 
shadow  was  measured  by  feet  which  were  marked  on  the 
place  where  the  shadow  fell.  By  whomsoever  the 
gnomon  was  invented,  and  Herodotus  gives  the  credit 
to  the  Babylonians,  from  that  day  to  the  present  it  has 


34 

been  the  proper  method  for  determining  the  hour  of  the 
day.  Any  person  who  is  employed  in  the  open  air, 
whether  hunter,  farmer,  backwoodsman,  sailor  or  sol- 
dier, whether  white  man,.  Indian,  or  negro,  can  usually 
tell  the  time  of  day  by  means  of  the  length  and  direction 
of  the  shadow  of  a  staff  cast  by  the  sun.  Many  can 
tell  the  hour  of  the  day  by  standing  with  their  backs  to 
the  sun  and  noting  the  length  and  direction  of  their 
shadows.  It  is  reported  that  in  1100  B.  C.  the  Chinese 
astronomers  found  the  length  of  the  shadow  of  a  gnomon 
at  the  summer  solstice  was  one  foot  and  a  half,  the  gno- 
mon itself  being  eight  feet  long.  Phny  recorded  that 
the  shadow  of  the  dial  which  they  call  the  Gnomon  in 
Egypt,  at  noon  tide  on  the  equinoctial  day,  is  little  more 
in  length  than  half  the  gnomon.  Augustus  erected  a 
gnomon  100  feet  high  in  the  Campus  Martius.  "The 
Enghsh  Chapman's  and  Traveler's  Almanack  for  1712" 
gives  a  rule  and  table  by  which  the  hour  of  the  day 
may  be  found  by  means  of  a  staff.  In  John  Wing's 
"Olympia  Domata^'  and  Salem  Pearse's  "Celestial  Diary," 
both  almanacks  for  the  year  1722,  the  rule  and  table  are 
repeated.  They  are  again  found  in  an  almanac  for 
1765  entitled  "Poor  Richard  Improved.  By  Richard 
Saunders,  Philom.  Philadelphia:  Printed  and  Sold  by 
B.  Franklin  and  D.  Hall. "  As  the  rule  in  each  almanac 
is  given  in  almost  the  same  words  it  is  evident  that  it 
is  but  a  copy  of  some  very  old  rule.  According  to  the 
table  in  "Poor  Richard  Improved,"  the  staff,  which  was 
ten  feet  long,  on  the  21st  of  March  at  12  o'clock,  noon, 
cast  a  shadow  seven  feet  long;  on  the  21st  of  June,  3 
feet  long;  on  the  21st  of  September  9  feet  long;  and  on 
the  21st  of  December  19  feet  long.  At  six  o'clock,  either 
morning  or  afternoon  of  the  21st  of  March  the  shadow 
was  192  feet  long  and  on  the  21st  of  June  at  the  same 
time  it  was  38  feet.  On  the  21st  of  September  at  7  in 
the  morning  or  5  in  the  afternoon  the  shadow  was  83 
feet  long  and  on  December  21st  at  8  in  the  morning  or 
four  in  the  afternoon  it  was  100  feet.  The  length  of  the 
shadow  was  shortest  at  the  summer  solstice;  gradually 


35 

increased  until  it  reached  its  greatest  length  at  the 
winter  solstice,  and  then  gradually  decreased  until  the 
summer  solstice  was  reached. 

The  wisdom  of  man  was  continually  exercised  in 
trying  to  find  some  mechanical  device  for  measuring 
the  passage  of  time  and  the  clepsydra  was  succeeded 
by  a  clock  impelled  by  weights  or  springs  and  regulated 
by  toothed  wheels.  But  of  this  invention  the  Romans 
were  entirely  ignorant.  It  is  attributed  to  Pacificus 
who  lived  in  the  ninth  century  A.  D.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  about  the  13th  century  that  the  invention 
became  practically  useful.  A  very  great  advance  in 
clock  making  and  the  measurement  of  time  reduced  to 
the  greatest  precision  was  caused  by  the  discovery  of 
the  pendulum  by  Galileo  about  the  commencement  of 
the  17th  century,  and  its  application  to  clocks  about 
the  middle  of  the  same  century.  The  first  pendulum 
clock  made  in  England  was  in  the  year  1662  by  Mr. 
Fromantil,  a  Dutchman. 

When  watches  were  first  used  is  not  known.  Watches 
were  made  in  Nuremburg  by  Peter  Hele  as  early  as  1490 
and  were  called  ''Nuremburgh  Eggs"  on  account  of 
their  oval  shape.  But  it  is  claimed  that  the  watch  as 
we  know  it  was  invented  as  recently  as  1658  and  its  in- 
vention is  claimed  for  Dr.  Hooke  and  Mr.  Huygens. 
Great  improvements,  however,  have  been  made  and 
watches  are  now  made  with  such  extreme  accuracy  as 
to  vary  only  a  few  seconds  in  the  year,  and  those  made 
at  Waltham,  Mass.,  are  not  surpassed  by  any  other 
make. 

As  in  early  days  the  calendar  was  under  the  control 
of  the  priests  it  is  not  unlikely  that  an  annual  calendar 
containing  a  list  of  the  months,  weeks,  and  days  which 
is  so  common  with  us  was  engraved,  WTitten,  or  printed, 
but  if  so  no  copy  has  been  brought  to  my  attention. 

Of  almanacs  we  have  examples  from  very  early  times. 
The  pastoral  life  of  the  Egyptians,  Chaldseans,  Baby- 
lonians and  Arabians  predisposed  them  to  a  belief  in 
astrology  and  no  operation  of  daily  life  was  performed 


36 

without  first  consulting  the  stars.  To  satisfy  this  de- 
mand for  celestial  knowledge  almanacs,  or  books  giving 
general  information  and  advice  upon  the  movements 
of  the  heavenly  bodies  were  common  in  the  Egyptian 
and  Arabian  world,  and  this  form  of  hterature  has  spread 
over  Christendom. 

These  books,  however,  were  not  known  as  almanacs. 
Roger  Bacon  used  the  term  "almanac"  as  early  as  1267, 
but  whether  or  not  he  was  the  first  to  use  that  term  does 
not  appear.  Previous  to  his  time  the  register  was  known 
as  "Computus,"  " Martyr ologium, "  " Calendares, "  and 
"fasti."  As  the  "computus"  contained  the  Eastern 
tables,  a  list  of  the  Saints'  days,  and  the  various  Fast 
and  Festival  days,  is  was  indispensable  to  the  officers 
of  the  Church  and  from  the  year  325  every  cleric  was 
expected  to  know  his  "computus." 

These  registers  were  not  annual  registers  but  what 
we  call  perpetual  almanacs,  or  an  almanac  so  devised 
that  it  may  be  adjusted  for  any  particular  year.  The 
annual  almanac  seems  to  have  been  first  made  for  the 
use  of  navigators  who  did  not  venture  far  into  the  open 
sea,  but  kept  in  sight  of  the  coast  or  some  island,  which 
served  as  guides  in  the  day  tune;  in  the  night-time  the 
position,  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  different  stars, 
answered  the  same  purpose,  and  tables  were  found  in 
the  "ephemeris"  which  is  an  ancient  Greek  term  for 
an  astronomical  almanac,  or  a  book  giving  the  com- 
puted places  of  the  heavenly  bodies  for  each  day  in  the 
year. 

One  of  the  earliest  of  these  registers  or  almanacs  is 
the  "Papyrus  Salher,  No.  IV,"  published  in  facsimile 
in  "Select  Papyri,  Vol.  1."  The  papyrus  itself  is  in 
the  British  Museum.  About  one  third  is  missing,  but 
the  remaining  portion  contains  eight  months  of  the  year. 
The  author,  a  contemporary  of  Rameses  II,  by  making 
extracts  from  the  works  of  other  writers  has  compiled 
an  almanac  in  which  every  day  of  the  year  has  marked 
against  it  its  good  and  evil  virtues,  that  is,  it  was  a  regis- 
ter of  lucky  and  unlucky  days  throughout  the  year. 


37 

Rameses  II  is  supposed  to  have  reigned  in  the  thirteenth 
century. 

The  hours  between  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun, 
the  only  ones  that  are  of  importance,  are  divided  into 
three  seasons  of  four,  each  of  which  is  ruled  by  its  par- 
ticular influence.  Most  often  their  quaUty  was  the 
same  and  the  whole  day  was  placed  in  the  category 
either  of  propitious  or  fatal  days.  Sometimes,  however, 
it  happened  that  one  of  the  periods  had  one  value,  while 
another  assumed  another  value,  and  there  were  also 
mixed  days  on  which  fortune  differed  every  minute. 
The  writer  has  carefully  registered  these  oscillations 
and  has  placed  a  warning  note  for  the  reader  after  each 
date,  as  good,  good,  good,  or  hostile,  hostile,  hostile, 
or  good,  good,  hostile,  or  any  combination  to  which  the 
division  into  three  groups  lends  itself.  Afterwards  he 
indicates  the  things  to  be  done  or  avoided,  the  animals 
whose  encounter  or  sight  should  be  shunned,  injunc- 
tions with  regard  to  fire,  precautions  for  guarding  against 
the  evil  eye,  and  adds  to  this  information  a  summary 
of  the  motives  which  justified  his  recommendations. 
It  was  in  almost  every  case  a  legendary  episode  of  the 
gods.  We  perceive  that  a  victory  or  some  pleasant 
experience  of  one  of  the  immortals  at  that  particular 
date  and  hour  had  some  undefined  effect  upon  mortals 
and  gave  them  a  chance  of  prosperity.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  consequences  of  a  disaster  in  heaven  would 
make  themselves  felt  on  earth  for  a  long  period  of  time; 
thus  men  were  benefited  or  injured  by  the  pleasures  or 
misfortunes  of  the  gods.  So  many  injunctions  and  so 
many  warnings  were  given,  and  so  many  methods  offered 
by  which  calamity  could  be  averted,  that  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  almanac  was  consulted  on  all 
occasions. 

The  influences  whether  good  or  bad  were  always 
exerted  on  fixed  days  of  the  month,  regardless  of  the  day 
of  the  week  on  which  the  date  might  fall.  For  instance, 
on  the  eleventh  of  Tobi  no  one  might  approach  the  fire 
place,  for  the  god  Ra  had  once  burst  into  flame  on  that 


38 

day  in  order  to  devour  his  enemies  and  the  effects  of  his 
metamorphosis  was  felt  each  anniversary,  and  even  at 
the  present  day  the  superstition  still  holds  among  the 
Egyptian  peasants  who  will  neither  kindle  a  fire,  ap- 
proach a  flame,  or  smoke  on  that  day. 

As  all  of  these  influences  were  exerted  on  a  certain 
day  of  the  month  regardless  of  the  day  of  the  week  upon 
which  that  date  fell,  the  almanac  was  good  for  any  and 
all  years.  Just  as  we  celebrate  Independence  Day  on 
the  fourth  of  July,  Sunday  excepted,  so  fire  was  to  be 
avoided  by  the  Egyptians  in  the  times  of  Rameses  II 
on  the  eleventh  of  Tobi. 

Another  early  almanac  is  the  one  engraved  on  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  Temple  of  Denderah  in  Egypt  which  represents 
in  hieroglyphics  the  yearly  journey  of  the  sun  between 
Cancer  and  Capricorn  and  return.  Apparently  all  the 
signs  of  the  Zodiac  are  represented  as  well  as  the  nineteen 
years  of  the  Metonic  cycle,  and  the  festival  days.  The  age 
of  this  temple  is  much  disputed,  but  recent  discoveries 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  it  was  built  about  35  A.  D. 

That  the  representation  of  the  twelve  signs  of  the 
Zodiac  has  been  a  favorite  subject  for  artists  from  that 
time  to  the  present  is  fully  shown  by  James  Fowler  in 
his  beautiful  quarto  volume  "On  Mediaeval  Represen- 
tations of  the  Months  and  Seasons.  London,  1873," 
in  which  he  describes  one  hundred  examples  taken  from 
the  porticos,  ceihngs,  windows,  and  tiles  of  cathedrals 
and  churches  in  Great  Britain  and  France,  covering  the 
period  from  the  tenth  to  the  eighteenth  century.  In 
his  introduction  he  says  ''none  of  the  phenomena  of 
nature  can  earlier,  or  more  widely,  or  more  deeply  have 
attracted  notice  and  curiosity  than  the  phenomena  of 
the  Seasons;  and  none,  probably,  earlier  or  more  widely 
became  embodied  in  art  and  poetry.  For  that  reason 
few  subjects,  probably,  would  prove  of  greater  interest 
in  themselves,  or  in  the  light  which  they  have  reflected, 
incidentally,  on  the  life  and  thought  of  those  who  have 
gone  before  us,  if  undertaken  by  an  accomplished  anti- 
quary,   than   the   enumeration,    and   description,    and 


39 

comparison  of  the  different  modes  of  representing  the 
Seasons  employed  in  different  countries  and  ages  from 
the  earliest  to  the  latest  times  ....  It  would  seem  that 
in  the  middle  ages,  whether  in  illuminated  manuscripts, 
early  printed  books,  clogg  almanacs,  cut  stone,  carved 
wood,  metal  work,  incised  pavers,  encaustic  tiles,  mo- 
saics, wall  paintings  or  painted  glass,  representations 
of  the  months  and  seasons  were  of  frequent  occurrence. 
For  each  month  the  custom  was  to  represent  the  cor- 
responding sign  of  the  Zodiac,  or  some  characteristic 
symbol  or  occupation,  or  both,  with  or  without  the  month 
or  other  inscription.  The  seasons  were  usually  repre- 
sented by  symbols  or  occupations  only." 

The  Roman  Fasti  closely  resembled  a  modern  almanac 
and  the  celebrated  ''Fasti"  of  Ovid  may  be  considered 
as  a  poetical  "Year  Book"  or  ''Companion  to  the  Al- 
manac" having  been  composed  to  illustrate  the  Fasti 
published  by  Julius  Caesar,  who  remodelled  the  Roman 
year.  All  the  more  remarkable  epochs  are  explained  in 
succession,  the  origin  of  the  different  festivals  explained, 
the  various  ceremonies  described,  the  legends  connected 
with  the  principal  constellations  narrated,  and  many 
curiolis  discussions  interwoven  upon  subjects  likely  to 
prove  interesting  to  his  countrymen. 

Several  specimens  of  Fasti,  on  stone  or  marble  have 
been  discovered  at  different  times  in  different  places, 
but  none  of  them  older  than  the  age  of  Augustus.  One 
of  the  most  remarkable  is  that  known  as  the  "Kalen- 
darium  Praenestinum "  or  "Fasti  Verriani. "  Seutonius 
tells  us  that  a  statue  of  Verrius  Flaccus,  preceptor  to  the 
grandsons  of  Augustus,  stood  in  the  lower  part  of  the 
Forum  of  his  native  town  Praenesti,  on  which  he  had 
exhibited  to  public  view  the  Fasti  arranged  by  himself 
and  engraved  on  marble  slabs.  In  1770  the  remains 
of  a  circular  building  w^re  discovered  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  modern  Palestina,  together  with  several 
fragments  of  marble  tablets  which  were  soon  recognized 
as  forming  part  of  an'  ancient  calendar.  Farther  ex- 
amination showed  that  these  were  the  Fasti  of  Verrius. 


40 

In  the  Naples  Museum  is  preserved  an  ancient  Roman 
Farmer's  Calendar  or  Rural  Almanac  known  as  the 
Calendarium  Rusticum  Farnesianium.  It  is  inscribed 
upon  the  four  sides  of  a  cube  of  marble  about  two  and 
one-half  feet  in  height,  and  a  foot  and  a  half  in  length 
and  breadth,  each  face  being  divided  into  three  columns, 
and  each  column  including  a  month.  At  the  top  of 
each  column  is  carved  the  appropriate  sign  of  the  Zodiac ; 
then  follow  the  name  of  the  month,  the  number  of  the 
days,  the  position  of  the  Nones,  the  length  of  the  day 
and  night,  the  name  of  the  sign  through  which  the  sun 
passes,  the  god  under  whose  protection  the  month  was 
placed,  the  various  agricultural  operations  to  be  per- 
formed, and  a  list  of  the  principal  festivals.  The  re- 
semblance of  the  various  modern  Farmer's  Almanacs 
to  this  ancient  Farmer's  Calendar  is  very  striking. 

A  very  interesting  but  more  modern  almanac  is  what 
is  known  as  The  Mexican  Calendar  Stone.  It  is  an 
enormous  slab  of  basaltic  porphyry  about  twelve  feet 
square  and  three  feet  thick  which  has  been  cut  from  a 
quarry  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  The 
disc  is  wrought  from  this  great  stone,  stands  out  in  relief 
from  the  surface  of  the  block  about  nine  inches,  and  is 
eleven  feet,  eight  inches  in  diameter.  After  having  been 
suitably  engraved  by  the  sculptor  this  slab  was  sunk  in 
the  surface  of  an  altar  which  had  been  erected  upon  the 
platform  of  an  immense  pyramidal  structure  which  had 
been  built  in  the  great  square  of  the  city  as  a  temple  to 
the  Aztec  god,  Mixitli.  The  sculptor  has  covered  the 
surface  of  the  disc  with  hieroglyphic  pictures  the  lines 
of  which  have  been  cut  to  a  depth  of  more  than  seven 
inches.  These  pictures  have  been  deciphered  and  prove 
to  be  a  very  successful  attempt  to  preserve  in  stone  the 
Aztec  idea  of  the  division  of  time.  The  central  tablet 
represents  the  face  of  the  sun-god  and  from  the  manner 
in  which  it  is  engraved  the  artist  intended  to  represent 
that  god  as  the  creator,  the  giver,  the  divider  of  time,  the 
very  oldest  being  that  ever  existed.  Around  this  central 
tablet  in  concentric  zones  are  other  tablets  which  repre- 


41 

sent  the  day,  the  week,  the  month,  the  year,  and  the 
cycle.  At  the  top  of  the  disc,  in  the  outer  zone,  over 
the  central  tablet  is  the  symbolic  representation  of  the 
year  in  which  this  work  of  art  was  made  and  consecrated, 
namely  1479,  and  it  is  claimed^  that  other  symbols  show 
the  dates  of  important  events  in  Aztec  history. 

Although  attributed  to  the  Aztecs  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  calendar  represented  here  was  formed  by  the 
Toltecs,  a  very  superior  race,  who,  coming  from  the 
North,  conquered  the  people  then  inhabiting  the  coun- 
try, and  remained  here  from  the  seventh  to  the  twelfth 
century,  laying  the  foundations  of  social,  political  and 
religious  order,  and  building  sumptuous  temples  and 
palaces. 

Early  in  the  thirteenth  century,  they  either  migrated 
farther  south  or  were  driven  by  other  nations  from  the 
north  among  which  were  the  Aztecs,  who  were  the  most 
powerful,  and  apparently  exercised  common  dominion 
over  all  the  others  until  conquered  by  the  Spaniards  in 
1521. 

The  Aztecs  built  a  great  city,  on  whose  ruins  is  now 
the  City  of  Mexico,  in  which  was  the  temple  of  which 
the  Calendar  Stone  was  an  important  feature,  as  on  it 
thousands  of  human  victims  were  sacrificed  whose 
blood  was  thought  to  conciliate  the  anger  of  the  gods. 
The  temple  was  destroyed  by  Cortes  and  the  stone 
after  having  been  placed  on  exhibition  for  several  years 
in  the  Market-place  was  in  1561  buried  where  it  had 
stood.  It  was  resurrected  in  1790  and  built  into  the 
walls  of  the  cathedral,  where  it  may  now  be  seen. 

Calendars  made  of  gold  and  silver  were  common  in 
Mexico.  Before  Cortes  reached  the  capital  Monte- 
zuma sent  a  deputation  of  noblemen  to  meet  him  carry- 
ing a  magnificent  present  of  articles  beautifully  wrought 
of  gold  and  other  costly  materials.  Among  them  two 
wheels,  one  of  gold  with  the  image  of  the  sun,  and  the 
other  of  silver  with  the  image  of  the  moon  upon  it,  both 
formed  of  plates  of  these  metals  each  twenty-eight  hands 

"Philipp  J.  J.  Valentini,  Ph.  D. 


42 

in  circumference,  with  various  figures  of  animals  and 
other  things,  in  basso  relievo,  finished  with  great  ingen- 
uity and  skill.  The  Aztecs  represented  their  division  of 
time  by  means  of  wheels  and  these  two  wheels  were 
calendars. 

They  calculated  their  civil  year  by  the  solar;  they 
divided  it  into  eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each, 
and  added  five  complimentary  days,  to  make  up  the 
complete  number  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five,  after 
the  last  of  these  months:  the  five  '^nomentemi"  or  ''use- 
less days"  were  intercalated,  and  belonging  to  no  par- 
ticular month,  were  regarded  as  unlucky  by  the  super- 
stitious natives. 

Their  week  consisted  of  five  days,  the  last  of  which 
was  market-day,  and  a  month  consisted  of  four  of  these 
weeks.  As  the  tropical  year  is  composed  of  about  six 
hours  more  than  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days, 
they  lost  a  day  every  fourth  year  which  they  supplied, 
not  at  the  termination  of  that  period,  but  at  the  expira- 
tion of  their  cycle  of  fifty-two  years,  when  they  inter- 
calated the  twelve  and  a  half  days  that  had  been  lost. 

It  is  in  only  the  first  year  of  the  cycle  that  the  Mex- 
ican year  corresponds  with  our  year.  For  instance,  the 
first  day  of  the  first  year  of  the  Mexican  Cycle  in  the 
year  1454  corresponds  with  December  31  of  the  Julian 
year  old  style,  or  January  9,  new  style.  For  on  account 
of  our  intercalation  of  one  day  every  fourth  year,  the 
Mexican  year  receded  as  compared  with  ours  one  day 
every  four  years.  This  correction  therefore  must  be 
made  when  a  comparison  of  dates  is  wanted  for  any 
other  year  than  the  first  year.  The  Mexican  intercala- 
tion of  thirteen  days  at  the  end  of  fifty-two  years  made 
again  the  first  year  of  every  cycle  correspond  with  our 
year. 

The  question  naturally  arises,  how  the  Toltecs  became 
so  far  advanced  in  civilization  as  to  be  able  somewhere 
between  the  seventh  and  the  twelfth  century  of  the 
Christian  Era  to  formulate  a  calendar  which  the  Span- 
ish conquerors  in  1521  found  to  be  as  accurate  as  their 


43 

own,  and  how  the  Aztecs  were  able  to  solve  such  prob- 
lems in  engineering  as  the  transporting  of  a  huge  stone 
block,  many  tons  in  weight,  over  miles  of  marshland 
and  river,  and  the  elevating  and  placing  it  on  a  platform 
120  feet  in  height. 

In  ''Clavis  Calendaria"  John  Brady  says,  ''Those 
immense  square  pillars  or  obelisks  in  Egypt,  the  hier- 
oglyphical  characters  upon  which  have  so  much  per- 
plexed the  learned,  have  been  considered  as  containing 
directions  for  the  monthly  rural  labours  of  the  Egyp- 
tians and  consequently  to  have  been  the  first  species  of 
almanac  ever  issued ;  and  when  the  repetition  of  the  same 
figures  or  characters  on  each  of  those  vast  pillars  is 
considered,  the  titles  assigned  to  them  by  the  Egyptian 
priests  ''fingers  of  the  sun,"  to  which  orb  they  were 
usually  dedicated;  and  the  nature  of  the  stone  of  which 
they  were  composed,  being  of  various  colours,  and  re- 
garded as  typical  of  the  four  elements;  there  is  good 
reason  for  concluding  that  they  were  intended  as  alman- 
acs rather  than  histories  of  sovereigns,  or  for  any  other 
uses  that  have  been  assigned  them  by  the  ingenuity  of 
antiquaries. " 

As  early  as  the  eleventh  century  our  English  ancestors 
used  as  an  almanac  an  instrument  of  somewhat  similar 
form,  although  a  very  humble  imitation.  I  refer  to 
what  we  call  "Cloggs"  but  which  among  the  Danes, 
Swedes,  and  Norwegians  were  known  as  "Runstocks," 
"Runstaffs, "  etc.  Mr.  Brady  says  "they  were  intro- 
duced into  England  at  the  Norman  Conquest.  Before 
printing  was  introduced,  and  when  manuscripts  were 
scarce  and  dear,  these  Runic  almanacs  were  particularly 
useful  in  assisting  the  memory.  In  all  visits  to  distant 
churches,  in  all  pilgrimages,  etc.,  they  were  made  the 
instruments  of  instruction  and  regularity;  and  that  they 
might  be  doubly  serviceable,  they  were  frequently  carved 
on  the  tops  of  pilgrims'  staves,  so  as  to  regulate  their 
times  of  assembling  at  particular  places  and  also  to 
support  them  in  their  wearisome  journeys.  These 
Runic  almanacs,  Uke  others  in  manusrcipt,  bore  the 


44 

characters  of  pagan  superstition  until  about  the  fourth 
century  when  they  partook  of  both  heathen  and  Chris- 
tian emblematic  devices,  so  as  to  be  more  generally 
saleable;  but  after  the  seventh  century,  they  became 
wholly  Christian,  and  that  they  might  be  made  as  uni- 
versally serviceable  as  possible,  they  were  sometimes 
cut  on  sword  scabbards,  implements  of  husbandry,  etc." 

Although  the  Greeks  of  Alexandria  are  said  to  have 
constructed  written  almanacs  in  the  second  century  of 
the  Christian  era  and  manuscript  almanacs  must  have 
been  quite  common,  yet  there  is  no  record  of  any  now 
extant  previous  to  the  twelfth  century. 

An  early  manuscript  almanac  is  one  written  in  the 
year  354  A.  D.  It  was  written  on  parchment  and  con- 
tained about  fifty  leaves.  Romulus  Huart  (b.  1537 — 
d.  1613),  utriusque  juris  Ucentiatas,  writes  that  "fastos 
quosdam  seu  calendarium  Romanum  antiquis  plane 
characterihus  in  membrana  sex  {si  bene  memini)  foliorum 
descriptum,  sex  etiam  dumtaxat  menses  complectens" 
was  in  1560  in  the  possession  of  his  father-in-law  John 
Brenner,  royal  secretary  and  actuary  of  the  Provincial 
Council  of  Luxemburg.  It  passed  through  various 
hands  until  in  1627  it  was  in  Brussels  in  the  possession 
of  Peirescius  who  wrote  to  Peter  Dupuy,  the  publisher, 
May  12,  1627,  "Parceque  je  desire  de  faire  imprimer  ce 
calendria  Constantinien  MS.  (avec  les  fastes  et  martyri- 
ologes  qui  y  sont  joinds)  lequel  vous  avez  veu  aytres  fois 
je  vous  supplii  de  ne  pas  laisser  sortir  de  vos  mains  le 
coppie  au  memoires  que  vous  en  pourriez  avoir  tirees,  etc." 

From  that  time  to  the  present  no  trace  of  the  calendar 
has  been  found.  Copies  of  the  original  pages  and  of 
other  portions  of  the  whole  Calendar  had  been  made  at 
various  times,  and  by  diligent  searching  Mr.  Mommsen 
had  been  enabled  to  reconstruct  the  Calendar  which  he 
calls  ''Chronographus  Anni,  CCCLIIII,  and"  which 
was  published  in  ''Monumenta  Germanica  Historica." 
Chronica  Minora.  Saec.  IV,  V,  VI,  VII.  Edidit  Theo- 
dorus  Mommsen.  Volumen  I,  Bucolini  1892.  It  was 
divided  into  thirteen  sections,  viz: 


45 

I.     Dedicatio  Valentino. 

II.     Imagines    urbium    Romae     Alexandriae    Constanti- 
nopolis  Treverorum. 

III.  Dedicatio  imperatoria  et  natales    Caesarum,   in  his 

d(omim)  n(ostri)  Constantii. 

IV.  Imagines  Planetarum  VII  laterculo  norarum  noxiarum 

communium  bonarum. 
V.     Signa  zodiaci  eorum  utilitates. 
VI.     Imagines   mensium   cum   hemerologio,    in   quo   item 

adnotatur  natalis  Constanti. 
VII.     Imagines  imperatorum  duorum   alterius  sedentis  et 
diademati    cincti    (a    Constantio    Augusti    figlio  di 
Constantino)  alterius  diademati  stantis  (Constantio 
Caesare  Gallo.) 
VIII.     Fasti  consulares  ad  a.  p.  Chr.  354. 
IX.     Cyclus  paschalis  ab  a.  p.  Chr.  312  as  a.  358  cum  con- 

tinuatione  perturbata  finiente  a.  410. 
X.     Laterculus  praefectorum  urbis  Romae  as.  a.  p.  Chr. 

354. 
XI.     Depositiones  episcoporum  Romanorum  quorum  ulti- 

mus  est  Julius  a  352. 
XII.     Feriale  ecclesiae  Romanae  (depositiones  martyrium). 
XIII.     Laterculus  episcoporum  Romanorum  finiens  in  Liberis 
qui  adiit  a.  352. 

Complete  lists  of  these  tables  are  given  in  Chronica 
Minora. 

In  regard  to  this  almanac  Mr.  C.  W.  Ernst,  the  well 
known  antiquary  of  Boston  wrote  to  me  the  following 
letter: 

298  Commonwealth  Avenue,  17  December,  1906. 
Dear  Mr.  Littlefield: — 

The  clog  you  gave  me  is  quite  clear,  now  that  I  have  looked 
at  it  under  your  guidance.  With  a  Catholic  almanac  all  turns 
out  right. 

The  Filocalus,  or  Liberius,  almanac  of  354,  in  Chronica  Mi- 
nora, ed.  Mommsen,  I  (1892),  pp.  39-148,  was  first  printed, 
1634,  in  Bucherius,  Doctrina  Temporum  (Antwerp);  and 
Mommsen  published  it  again  in  1850.  In  a  sense,  then,  it  is 
ancient  history,  by  the  side  of  which  the  Gothic  fragment  of 
the  4th  century  (?),  found  by  Mai,  is  not  to  be  mentioned. 
This  Gothic  scrap  has  our  word  "yule,"  meaning  "jolly 
season." 

The  Liberius  almanac  of  354  is  the  earliest  Christian  almanac 
knoun,  not  likely  to  be  excelled.  It  came  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  4th  century  controversy  between  Unitarians  (Arians) 


46 

and  Catholics.  It  has  the  dominical  and  nundinal  letters, 
the  Easter  cycle,  a  list  of  Saints'  days,  and  stands  first  in 
assigning  Christmas  to  the  25th  of  December.  These  latter 
points  give  the  almanac  present  interest,  and  make  me  think 
that  no  man  save  Pope  Liberius  could  have  issued  the  docu- 
ment. 

Up  to  that  time  there  was  no  special  celebration  of  the 
nativity;  what  there  was  took  place  on  the  6th  of  January, 
Epiphany.  In  354  a  new  festival  of  the  first  order  was  intro- 
duced, and  the  non-movable  part  of  the  church  year  was 
established.  All  Christendom  has  accepted  the  almanac  of 
354.  The  Pope  who  took  this  step  was  not  unfriendly  to 
pagans,  and  his  beginning  of  the  year  on  the  25th  of  December 
generally  prevailed  through  the  Middle  Ages.  English  medi- 
aeval chronicles  frequently  begin  the  year  on  the  25th  of 
December.  Roger  Howden  may  be  given  as  an  example. 
The  novelty  of  the  almanac,  its  influence,  and  especially  its 
list  of  holidays,  strengthen  the  belief  that  Pope  Liberius  was 
its  real  source.  Filocalus  was  only  the  scribe,  I  think,  chosen 
by  Liberius.  And  other  reasons  might  be  named  for  calling 
it  the  Liberius  almanac  of  354.  Liberius  had  the  best  of 
reasons  for  issuing  just  such  a  document,  and  the  year  is  not 
an  accident.  A  little  later  Liberius  carefully  compromised 
with  Unitarians.  It  is  plain  that  we  of  Boston  in  1906  cele- 
brate Christmas  on  the  25th  of  December,  because  Liberius 
established  that  festival  in  354. 

Always  yours, 

C.  W.  Ernst. 

In  the  Savilian  Library  at  Oxford  is  a  manuscript 
ahnanac  published  by  Petrus  de  Dacia  about  1300  A.  D. 
He  was  a  believer  in  astrology  and  has  been  credited 
with  being  the  originator  of  the  homo  signorum,  the 
man  of  signs.  This,  however,  is  a  mistake  as  diagrams 
of  the  stars  with  descriptive  hieroglyphics  taken  from 
ancient  temples  and  tombs  indicate  most  positively 
that  the  early  Egyptian  system  of  studying  the  stars 
was  by  noting  their  hourly  position  above  and  around 
some  huge  figure  like  the  sphinx,  so  that  the  varying 
positions  "over  eye,  heart,  elbow,  etc.,"  could  be  intel- 
ligently recorded  for  different  times,  and  arguments 
discussed,  as  well  as  theories  framed  therefrom.  The 
similarity  of  the  figure  in  the  Egyptian  diagram  and  the 
"man  of  signs"  in  the  modern  almanacs  is  very  striking. 


47 

Even  at  the  present  day  the  "Anatomy"  as  the  "man 
of  signs"  is  called  is  a  familiar  figure  in  a  few  of  the  al- 
manacs, as  it  has  been  for  centuries  in  many  of  the  more 
prominent  almanacs.  It  is  the  figure  of  a  man  surround- 
ed by  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac  with  daggers  pointing 
to  the  parts  of  the  body  which  the  signs  are  supposed  to 
govern  as  the  moon  passes  them. 

In  "Fly.  An  Almanack  for  the  Year  of  our  Lord 
God,  1722,"  a  whole  page  is  devoted  to  the  "homo-sig- 
norum."  The  figure  itself  occupies  the  middle  of  the 
page  and  is  surrounded  by  printed  descriptions.  The 
legend  at  the  top  of  the  page  reads,  "The  Anatomy  of 
the  Body  of  Man,  as  the  Parts  thereof  are  governed  by 
the  Twelve  Constellations  of  Stars  in  the  Zodiack,  or 
rather  the  Moon  passing  by  the  same  Constellations." 
In  each  monthly  table  one  of  the  columns  shows  what 
part  of  the  body  is  influenced  by  the  moon  on  every 
day  of  the  month.  Although  most  of  the  almanacs  con- 
tained the  monthly  column  of  Moon's  sign  yet  they  did 
not  all  of  them  contain  the  Anatomy.  In  a  bound  vol- 
ume containing  eighteen  almanacs  for  the  year  1722, 
fifteen  contained  the  monthly  column,  but  only  six  con- 
tained the  Anatomy.  The  pointing  out  proper  days  for 
bleeding,  taking  physics,  and  other  odd  matters  seems 
to  have  been  one  of  the  important  parts  of  the  task  of 
the  almanac  compilers.  Many  well-meaning  persons 
would  not  willingly  adopt  a  remedy  for  disease  without 
previously  consulting  that  mystical  column  in  the  Al- 
manac devoted  to  knees,  hams,  legs,  ankles,  feet,  etc., 
it  being  considered  unlucky  to  take  medicine  of  the  sign 
which  influenced  that  part  of  the  body  on  that  day  was 
not  propitious.  The  following  story  is  related:  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  famous  physician 
sent  physic  to  a  patient  desiring  him  to  take  it  immediate- 
ly. On  the  following  day  he  called  upon  the  patient  and 
inquired  how  it  had  operated.  The  patient,  a  farmer, 
replied  he  had  not  taken  it.  Upon  the  physician's  re- 
monstrating against  this  disobedience  the  patient  replied, 
"I  looked  into  the  almanac  and  seeing  the  sign  lay  in 


48 

the  bowels  I  thought  that  and  the  physic  together  would 
be  too  much  for  me. " 

In  "Merhnus  Liberatus  for  1761,"  by  John  Partridge, 
the  table  of  the  moon's  sign  is  advertised  as  ''being  of 
excellent  use  for  the  direction  of  any  person  that  deals 
in  cattle,  etc.  It  being  so  plain  and  easy  that  it  requires 
no  more  explanation,  for  its  use  is  exhibited  by  inspec- 
tion. "  Although  Partridge  died  in  1714  yet  the  almanac 
was  published  with  his  name  attached  as  author  for  more 
than  one  hundred  years  after  his  death,  but  to  his  name 
was  added  the  legend  "etiam  Mortuus  loquitur. ^^  He 
was  a  shoemaker  by  trade,  but  by  employing  his  leisure 
moments  in  study,  acquired  a  knowledge  of  latin,  as- 
tronomy, astrology,  and  physic,  and  in  1688  began  the 
publication  of  an  almanac.  He  acquired  considerable 
renown  from  an  attack  on  him  by  Dean  Swift,  who 
under  the  name  of  Bickerstaff  published  several 
satirical  and  humorous  pamphlets  against  the  ''shoe- 
maker astrologer." 

Notwithstanding  its  absurdity  the  public  resisted 
attempts  to  eliminate  the  anatomy  from  the  almanacs. 
The  Stationers  Company  once  tried  the  experiment  of 
omitting  the  column  of  the  moon's  influence  on  the  parts 
of  the  body  from  Vox  Stellarum  by  Francis  Moore,  but 
so  many  copies  were  returned  upon  their  hands  that  they 
were  obliged  to  insert  it  the  next  year.  On  the  titlepage 
of  the  second  part  of  Old  Poor  Rohin,  1816  is  a  woodcut 
of  the  Anatomy  under  which  is  printed. 

Above  is  a  figure  will  puzzle  your  brains, 

The  more  'twill  bewilder,  the  more  you  take  pains; 

If  you  take  my  advice,  you  will  let  it  alone, 

For  indeed  it  is  useless  when  thoroughly  known. 

Among  the  authors  of  the  manuscript  almanacs  were 
Solomon  Jarchus,  A.  D.  1150;  Roger  Bacon,  1292;  Wal- 
ter de  Elvendene,  1327;  John  Somers,  1380;  and  Nicolas 
de  Lynner,  1386.  Although  independent  manuscript 
almanacs  are  uncommon,  yet  an  almanac  is  almost  sure 
to  be  found  in  the  early  manuscript  Books  of  Hours  and 
Prayer  Books.     It  is  called  the  Ecclesiastical  Calendar 


49 

and  in  addition  to  the  simple  calendar  contains  ''Tables 
and  rules  for  the  moveable  and  inmioveable  feasts,  days 
of  fasting  and  abstinence,  Easter-day,  dominical  or 
Sunday  letter,  and  the  golden  number."  To  correspond 
with  the  rest  of  the  book  the  pages  of  these  calendars  or 
almanacs  were  beautifully  written  in  black  and  red  text, 
and  were  surrounded  with  illuminated  borders,  jeweled 
with  gold,  in  which  were  represented  fruits,  flowers, 
birds  and  animals.  In  many  of  the  "Books  of  Hours," 
several  of  the  miniatures  executed  by  famous  artists, 
indicate  the  labors  and  exploits  of  serfs  and  nobles  in  the 
four  seasons.  In  the  August,  1906,  number  of  ASm6ner's 
Magazine,  Mr.  A.  B.  Frost,  an  American  artist,  has  fol- 
lowed this  idea  by  presenting  four  pictures  in  colors 
representing  the  labors  of  a  farmer  and  which  he  enti- 
tles "The  Farmer's  Seasons."  Naturally  these  manu- 
script books  are  much  sought  for  and  fine  copies  bring 
thousands  of  dollars. 

Besides  being  written  in  book  form,  the  almanac  was 
also  ^UTitten  on  separate  pieces  of  paper  and  folded  in 
the  shape  of  a  flat  stick  or  lathe. 

Probably  the  first  printed  almanac  is  what  is  known  as 
the  Calendar  of  1457.  It  was  printed  in  Mentz  by  Gu- 
tenberg, in  the  new  printing  office  which  he  had  opened 
after  his  lawsuit  with  Fust.  It  was  printed  on  one  side 
of  the  sheet  with  type  of  double  pica  body,  obviously 
made  to  be  posted  or  hung  upon  the  wall.  Only  the 
half  of  a  single  copy  is  extant.  It  contains  the  festivals 
and  notable  days  for  six  months.  Gutenberg  also  is 
supposed  to  have  printed  An  Almanac  for  1460,  a  quarto 
of  six  leaves,  printed  with  a  type  of  round  Gothic  on 
English  body,  with  head  lines  in  types  resembfing  the 
text  types  of  the  Bible  of  42  lines. 

Johann  Muller,  a  German  mathematician  and  astron- 
omer, a  pupil  of  the  famous  astronomer  Purbach,  who 
published  manuscript  almanacs,  a  native  of  Konigsburg, 
from  whence  he  received  the  name  of  Regiomontanus, 
its  Latin  equivalent,  compiled  an  almanac  which  appears 
to  have  been  the  prototype  of  all  the  almanacs  which 


50 

have  followed  it.  It  contained  the  golden  number,  the 
motions  of  the  sun  and  moon,  days  of  the  weeks,  months, 
and  year,  and  astrological  tables.  In  1471  Muller  went 
to  Nuremberg  where  he "  attracted  the  attention  of  a 
wealthy  and  intelligent  citizen,  Bernard  Walther,  who 
assisted  him  in  starting  a  book-printing  establishment. 
He  is  said  to  have  printed  his  Kalendarium  Novum  in 
1472.  No  copy  of  it,  however,  is  in  existence.  The 
earliest  copy  known,  containing  title-page  and  date,  was 
printed  in  Venice  in  1476  by  Bernard  Pictor,  Petrus 
Loslein,  and  Erhardus  Ratdolt.  Muller  died  6th  July, 
1476  and  as  this  book  came  out  just  before  his  death  it 
is  presumed  to  have  been  the  first  edition,  especially  as 
Muller  had  removed  from  Niu^emberg  to  Rome.  It 
contains  twelve  leaves.  On  the  recto  of  the  first  leaf 
is  the  title,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  an  elegant  bor- 
der in  black;  the  bottom  being  filled  up  in  the  middle 
with  the  names  of  the  printers,  etc.,  in  red,  the  vacancy 
at  each  end  having  an  ornamental  knot  in  black.  As 
a  running  title  it  has  the  ornamental  K  L,  the  beautiful 
capitals  are  formed  of  the  branches  and  foliage  of  trees, 
and  the  words  and  figures  are  printed  in  red.  The  whole 
appearance  of  the  book  shows  it  to  be  a  monument  of  the 
typographical  skill  of  the  Venetian  printer,  Erhardus 
Ratdolt,  one  of  the  most  wonderful  masters  of  the  art  of 
printing  during  the  fifteenth  century,  and  one  of  the 
earliest  to  introduce  wood  engraving  into  books.  His 
work  was  famous  for  the  beauty  of  the  types  and  illus- 
trations. As  far  as  known  this  almanac  has  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  book  which  contains  a  complete  as  well 
as  an  ornamental  title-page,  giving  the  place  and  date  of 
publication  and  names  of  the  printers,  with  no  other 
peculiarity  than  the  fact  of  the  contents  of  the  book  being 
stated  in  verse  instead  of  prose.  It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  it  was  at  least  twenty  years  before  a  full  title-page 
appeared  in  any  other  book  and  title-pages  did  not  be- 
come common  until  1520.  An  almanac  was  printed  at 
Ulm  in  1478,  at  Barcelona  in  1487,  and  at  Vienna  in 
1491.     The  earliest  English  ahnanacs  were  printed  in 


51 

Holland  on  small  folio  sheets.  Several  of  these  have 
been  preserved  from  having  been  used  as  stuffing  in 
the  covers  of  books.  The  earliest  almanac  known  to 
have  been  printed  in  England  was  The  Shepheard's 
KaJendar,  translated  from  the  French  and  printed  by 
Richard  Pynson  in  1497.  It  was  a  translation  of  the 
Compost  et  Kalendrier  des  Bergers  printed  in  Paris  in 
1493,  which  was  itself  an  adaptation  of  the  Vrai  Regime 
et  Gouvernement  des  Bergers  by  Jehan  de  Brie  in  1379. 
The  earliest  known  English  almanac  is  an  "Almanacke 
for  XII  yere  ....  emprynted  at  London,  in  the 
Fletestrete  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde.  In  the  yere  of  the 
Incarnacyon  of  our  lorde  a.  MCCCCXCVII."  From 
that  time  a  continuous  chain  of  such  productions  may 
be  traced  both  in  England  and  on  the  continent. 

Owing  to  the  influence  which  the  heavenly  bodies 
had  or  were  supposed  to  have  upon  the  earth,  it  was  very 
easy  to  believe  that  they  also  ruled  the  fortunes  of  men, 
which  gave  rise  to  the  science  of  astrology,  or  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  stars,  and  to  a  class  of  men  who  claimed  to 
be  skilled  in  the  science  and  to  be  able  by  the  positions 
and  aspects  of  the  stars  to  foretell  the  fate  and  acts  of 
nations  and  individuals,  and  to  predict  events  of  inani- 
mate nature,  such  as  changes  of  the  weather,  earth- 
quakes, tornadoes,  and  the  like.  Naturally  astrology 
was  considered  a  higher  science  than  astronomy,  and 
astrologers  were  held  in  greater  favor  than  astronomers. 
Astrology  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  forms  of  superstition 
and  prevailed  among  the  Egyptians,  Chaldaeans,  Chi- 
nese and  Hindoos  from  very  early  times.  The  Jews 
learned  it  during  their  captivity  and  afterwards  practised 
it.  It  spread  into  the  West  and  to  Rome  about  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  Era  and  astrologers  plaj^ed 
an  important  part  in  all  the  European  countries  until 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Astrology 
was  a  powerful  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  ancient 
priesthood  and  in  more  modern  times  many  famous 
astronomers  were  believers  in  it.  The  position  of  the 
stars  was  taken  by  means  of  an  instrument  called  an 


52 

''astrolabe/'  which  in  the  pahny  days  of  astrology  was 
the  badge  of  an  astrologer.  Cardinal  d'Ailly,  who  died 
in  1420,  is  said  to  have  calculated  the  horoscope  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  to  have  maintained  that  the  Deluge  might 
have  been  predicted  by  astrology.  Astronomy  and 
astrology  went  hand  in  hand  and  the  almanacs  were  the 
vehicle  for  proclaiming  to  the  world  the  astrological 
predictions.  Indeed  the  evil  resulting  from  predictions, 
which  in  most  cases  proved  to  be  false,  caused  Henry  III 
of  France  in  1579  to  prohibit  the  insertion  of  any  political 
prophecies  in  the  almanacs.  The  real  death  blow  to 
astrology  was  given  by  Copernicus  when  in  1543  he  pub- 
lished "De  Revolutionibus  Orbium. "  Astrology,  how- 
ever, is  still  in  vogue  among  the  more  ignorant  classes, 
and  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  prophetic  almanacs 
is  the  ''Ahnanach  Liegeois, "  which  was  first  published 
in  1636.  It  is  very  popular  among  those  who  cannot 
read,  for  by  special  symbols  attached  to  certain  dates 
the  most  unlettered  persons  can  follow  its  instructions: 
for  instance,  a  pill-box  designates  the  planet  most  pro- 
pitious for  pills,  and  a  lancet  for  letting  blood. 

As  one  of  the  earliest,  if  not  the  first  products  of  the 
press,  at  Mainz  by  the  famous  prototypographer  Guten- 
berg was  an  almanac,  so  the  first  book  printed  in  the 
English  colonies  in  America,  on  the  press  which  had  been 
sent  over  by  the  Rev.  Jose  Glover,  and  set  up  in  Cam- 
bridge, in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  by  Stephen 
Day,  but  worked  undoubtedly  by  his  son  Matthew  Day, 
was  the  almanac  for  1639  calculated  by  the  celebrated 
shipmaster.  Captain  William  Pierce.  Unfortunately 
no  copy  is  known  to  be  in  existence.  The  oldest  extant 
ahnanac  printed  in  the  English  colonies  in  America  is 
that  for  the  year  1646  calculated  by  Samuel  Danforth 
of  Harvard  College,  and  printed  by  Matthew  Day. 
As  Pierce's  Almanac  and  Danforth's  Almanac  were 
printed  at  the  same  office  and  by  the  same  printer  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  resembled  each  other 
in  size  and  number  of  leaves,  and  that  they  corresponded 
very  closely  to  the  almanacs  printed  in  England  at  the 
same  time. 


63 

Of  the  almanac  of  1646  one  copy  only  is  known  to  be 
in  existence.  It  measures  5^4  by  33^2  inches  and  con- 
tains only  one  signature  or  eight  leaves.  The  first  leaf 
bears  the  title  on  the  recto  with  astronomical  matter  on 
the  verso  (or  rather  did,  as  the  first  and  last  leaves  are 
missing).  The  twelve  months  of  the  year  which  began 
with  March,  follow  on  the  second  to  seventh  leaf  in- 
clusive, together  with  various  tables  of  the  sun,  moon, 
tides,  etc.,  computed  for  each  month.  The  eighth  leaf 
contains  miscellaneous  information  on  both  verso  and 
recto.  Perkins'  Almanac  of  1642  is  made  up  in  a  very 
similar  manner. 

From  1646  to  the  present  time  almanacs  have  been 
published  in  the  English  Colonies  in  America,  and  their 
successors,  every  year  with  an  occasional  exception. 
At  first  the  almanac  of  some  one  person  was  sufficient, 
then,  a  competitor  for  public  favor  appeared,  until  at 
the  present  time  nearly  every  city  and  large  town  has 
one  or  more  writers  of  almanacs,  a  mere  list  of  whom 
would  make  a  large  catalogue. 

The  world  has  seen  innumerable  almanacs  written 
to  illustrate  almost  every  conceivable  subject.  As  early 
as  1729  a  writer  in  Le  Mercure  de  France  says:  "There 
have  appeared  almanacs  upon  so  many  different  subjects 
that  it  would  seem  to  be  impossible  to  find  a  subject 
which  would  be  sufficiently  interesting  upon  which  to 
compile  one"  but  since  that  date  perhaps  more  almanacs 
have  been  published  varying  in  contents  than  ever 
before.  There  have  been  almanacs  of  the  Gods,  the 
Muses,  the  Graces,  Goblins,  Kings,  and  even  of  the 
Devil,  the  latter,  according  to  the  title-page,  printed 
in  1733-35  "A  L'Enfer." 

In  all  ages  and  in  all  countries  persons  of  the  highest 
culture  and  most  scientific  attainments  have  compiled 
almanacs.  Besides  those  already  mentioned  there  were 
Solomon  Jarchus,  1150,  and  Anton  Purbach,  1452-1460. 
If  good  fortune  brings  to  you  the  Almanack  Calcule  sur  le 
Meridional  de  Lyon,'^  printed  in  1533,  congratulate 
yourself  you  have  found  a  pearl  of  great  price,  for  it 


54 

was  compiled  by  Rabelais,  of  famous  memory.  Other 
early  almanac  makers  were  Anthon  Askham,  1550; 
Nostradamus,  1579;  Gabriel  Frende,  1589;  John  Wood- 
house,  1634;  and  William  Lilly,  1644.  A  few  well  known 
English  authors  were  Nicholas  Culpepper,  1652;  Henry 
Coley,  1688;  John  Gadbury;  Francis  Moore,  Vincent 
Wing;  Richard  Saunders;  Poor  Robin  (said  to  be  the 
nom  de  plume  of  Robert  Herrick,  the  poet) ;  and  Cardanus 
Rider.  Among  the  American  compilers  were  Capt. 
William  Pierce,  Samuel  Danforth,  Revs.  Urian  Oakes, 
Israel  Chauncy,  Samuel  Cheever,  Nehemiah  Hobart, 
and  John  Sherman.  John  Foster,  Revs.  Cotton  and 
Nathaniel  Mather,  John  Tulley,  N.  Whittemore,  and 
S.  Clough. 

The  first  Pennsylvania  almanac,  "Kalendarium  Penn- 
silvaniense"  which  is  one  of  the  earliest  works  of  the  first 
printer  of  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  carries  the  imprint: 
''Printed  and  Sold  by  William  Bradford"  at  Philadelphia 
in  the  year,  1685.  It  contained  twenty  unpaged 
leaves.  When  in  1880  the  copy  in  the  Brinley  library 
was  offered  for  sale  it  brought  $555.  Bradford  also 
printed  "An  Almanach  for  the  Year  of  Christian  Ac- 
count, 1694.  By  Daniel  Leeds,  Philomat.  Printed 
and  Sold  by  William  Bradford  at  the  Bible  in  New- 
York,  1694."  Bradford  removed  to  New  York  from 
Philadelphia  in  March  or  April,  1693,  and  the  almanac 
is  one  of  his  early  publications.  Daniel  Leeds  says  in 
his  Almanach  for  1700:  "Friendly  Readers:  I  have 
now  freely  served  you  with  an  Almanach  twice  seven 
years."  The  first  genuine  New  York  almanac  is 
"An  Almanac  for  1697.  By  John  Clapp, "  which  was  also 
printed  by  William  Bradford.  John  Clapp,  the  editor, 
kept  a  house  of  entertainment  "about  two  mile  without 
the  City  of  New  York  at  the  place  called  the  Bowry." 
Against  the  24th  of  June  in  the  calendar,  he  gives  notice 
that  in  commemoration  of  the  feast  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
a  feast  is  held  by  the  Johns  of  this  City,  at  John  Clapp's 
in  the  Bowry,  "where  any  gentleman  whose  Christian 
name  is  John  may  find  a  hearty  Wellcome  to  joyn  in 


55 

consort  with  his  namesakes."  In  the  preface  he  says: 
"To  the  Ivind  Reader,  having  Httle  else  to  do,  and  finding 
this  whole  Province  beholding  to  a  stranger  for  a  New 
England  Almanach  every  year  he  did  resolve  to  set 
himself  upon  the  work."  It  contains  25  leaves  and  the 
Brinley  copy  sold  in  1886  brought  $420. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  commencing  in  1733,  wrote  and 
published  for  twenty-five  years  Poor  Richard's  Almanac 
under  the  pseudonym  of  Richard  Saunders:  James 
Franklin,  elder  brother  of  Banjamin,  compiled  and 
printed  "The  Rhode  Island  Almanach  for  the  Year 
1728.  By  Poor  Robin,"  the  imprint  of  which  reads, 
"Newport,  J.  Franklin,  at  his  Printing-House  on  Tilling- 
hast's  \\Tiarf,  near  the  Union  Flag  Tavern,  1728."  It 
is  the  first  work  printed  in  Rhode  Island.  The  pithy 
remarks  and  quaint  proverbs  of  Poor  Robin  undoubtedly 
gave  a  hint  to  Poor  Richard.  Benjamin  West  was  the 
author  of  the  first  almanac  printed  at  Providence,  name- 
ly, "The  New  England  Almanac  for  1763,  and  was  also 
the  author  of  the  popular  Bickerstaff  almanacs  printed 
in  Providence,  Boston,  and  other  New  England  towns. 
The  names  "Poor  Robin,"  "Poor  Richard,"  and  "Isaac 
Bickerstaff"  were  copied  from  the  English  originals. 

Nathaniel  Ames  began  his  series  of  almanacs  in  1726; 
Nathaniel  Low  in  1762;  IsaiahThomas  in  1774;  Nathan 
Daboll  in  1773;  Chas.  R.  Webster  in  1785;  Robert  B. 
Thomas  in  1793;  and  Dudley  Leavitt  in  1797,  the  last 
four  still  having  an  annual  issue,  after  having  been  pub- 
hshed  continuously  for  more  than  one  hundred  years. 

The  "Almanach  de  France"  for  1845  discourses  as 
follows: — "Fifteen  millions  of  French  people  learn  only 
by  the  almanacs  the  destinies  of  Europe,  the  laws  of 
their  country,  the  progress  of  the  sciences,  the  arts,  and 
industry.  Almanacs  are  the  village  library.  It  is 
therefore  important  to  give  them  a  practical  usefulness 
which  shall  satisfy  the  daily  needs  of  the  common  people. 
The  first  duty  which  the  betterment  of  their  manners 
and  intelligence  imposes  upon  us  is  to  purge  our  publi- 
cations of  the  scandalous  anecdotes  and  lying  predictions 


56 

which  offend  pubHc  modesty  or  tend  to  prolong  a  dan- 
gerous superstition.  This  is  what  the  Almanach  de 
France  has  tried  to  do  since  its  foundation  and  has  been 
the  principal  cause  of  its  great  success  from  year  to  year. 

Our  readers  will  give  us  this  credit  that  our  intention 
and  aim  is  to  enlighten  and  moralize  the  masses.  We 
shall  be  happy  and  well  repaid  if  we  contribute  in  a  small 
way  to  that  result  which  all  eloquence  and  all  pens  ought 
to  propose  in  a  free  and  civilized  country,  namely  to 
form  citizens  who  will  cause  their  laws  to  be  respected 
by  respecting  their  own  obligations. " 

In  the  introduction  to  his  delightful  essay  on  Almanacs, 
Sam.  Briggs  of  Cleveland,  an  old  and  valued  friend,  now 
passed  beyond,  says: — ''No  book  or  publication  has 
ever  been  the  subject  of  more  ridicule  and  contempt 
than  the  Almanac,  yet  no  book  has  been  more  universally 
read,  or  more  highly  valued,  or  more  serviceable  to  its 
day  and  generation.  From  the  earhest  times  and  in  all 
countries  they  have  been  consulted  and  treasured  with 
an  almost  religious  veneration;  in  earlier  times  they  con- 
stituted the  only  reading  matter  in  many  families  and 
copies  were  preserved  from  year  to  year  for  the  useful 
informations  and  maxims  which  they  contained,  as  well 
as  the  practical  astronomy  they  taught.  When  we  are 
aware  that  the  almanack  in  early  days  constituted  the 
only  method  of  reaching  the  people  generally,  we  appre- 
ciate the  full  importance  of  these  publications  and  gain 
a  clearer  knowledge  of  the  tastes  and  inclinations  of 
the  people  among  whom  they  were  a  popular  and  rever- 
enced class  of  Uterature." 


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